A Sound Soul and a Sound Heart
by Keyblade Guardian
Summary: Death City is being invaded by Heartless, so Sora goes there to eradicate them and keep the city and its residents safe, but soon he finds out that it's not just an average invasion. Timeline: After Dream Drop Distance (KH) and after the Brew Tempest Arc (SE)
1. A New Mission

_**A New Mission**_

_****__**Mysterious Tower**_

After the incident of the Mark of Mastery Exam, Sora left the tower to train and became a stronger Keyblade wielder. When he finished his journey, Yen Sid called him, but he didn't tell him why, so now he was climbing the stairs of the wizard's tower accompanied by his best friend, Riku.

"Did Master Yen Sid tell you why he wants to see me?" asked Sora looking at Riku.

"No," answered Riku. "He just told me to wait you at the entrance of the tower. By the way, what have you been doing?"

"I went to another world to train and improve my skills," replied the spiky boy. "You're a Keyblade Master now, so I have to train so I can keep up with you."

Riku looked at him with an amused face. "Sora, you're as strong as me when it comes to fight with the Keyblade."

"Then why did I fail the exam, Riku?" asked Sora with a frown in his face. He still felt bad about what happened during the test.

"Because of Xehanort and his new Organization, they set you a trap," answered Riku. "How could you know that he was interfering in our exam?"

"But still…it was my fault," Sora said with a sad look on his face. "I was too reckless and I fell in their trap…"

Riku looked at him with a concerned face; he was starting to get worried about Sora and his recently lack of confidence when suddenly his friend looked at him with his trademark grin.

"Well, that doesn't matter anymore." said Sora cheerfully. "The only thing I can do now is to look forward and be more careful, after all this will be our last fight and I'm sure that we will succeed."

Riku smiled at him, happy with this change of attitude. "That's the Sora I know," he said. "Now let's see what Master Yen Sid wants to tell you."

While they climbed the stairs to reach the top of the tower, Riku wanted to know where Sora had gone and the spiky boy told him that it was a place where fighters go to get stronger. Riku sensed that Sora was hiding something, but he didn't give importance to it.

They reached the door that led to Yen Sid's study and Riku opened the door.

"Master, Sora is here," he said.

Yen Sid nodded with his classic serious face. "Thank you Master Riku," he said and then looked at Sora. "Sora, come here please."

Sora walked to him but then he heard someone calling him and when he turned, he was tackled into a hug by two people, a duck and a dog.

"Hey what the-" said a surprised Sora but then he realized that the people hugging him were his friends Donald and Goofy. He hadn't seen them since he left the tower after the Mark of Mastery exam so he was really happy to see that they were fine.

"Sora, how are you, we've missed you a lot!" said Goofy.

"You could have let us know that you were still alive!" Donald scolded the Keybearer.

Sora laughed at his friends. "I'm great Goofy, thanks. I've been training pretty hard these months so I can become stronger than I was in our previous travels."

"Wow, that's a surprise" Donald said. "I thought you went to another world just to sleep like the lazy kid you are."

"Hey! I'm not that lazy." Sora said with a fake angry face. "Besides, you were sleeping for a year like Goofy and me, if you don't remember."

"…" Donald was left without a comeback.

"Not going to say anything now, uh?" Sora said with a smile on his face. He turned to salute Yen Sid.

"Hello Master Yen Sid," greeted Sora. "First of all, thank you for letting me leave the tower, I assure you that I used the time you gave me wisely."

"I'm sure that you did," Yen Sid said. "Now that you are here we can talk about why I called you, but I think you should know that your other friend is also here."

"My other friend?" asked Sora puzzled and then he realized who that person was. "Don't tell me she is here."

Yen Sid smiled and nodded. Sora couldn't believe that Kairi was in the tower, but when the door at the right opened at the red-head appeared, Sora couldn't help but smile.

"Sora?" asked the girl who just entered the study.

"Kairi, I'm so happy to-" Sora stopped talking because he didn't expect Kairi to hug him so suddenly, although he didn't mind at all. He blushed a little at her act. "Seriously, you guys are too rough with your hugs."

Someone exited the same room where Kairi was, it was the mouse that had helped Sora and his friends during his last adventures.

"It's good to see you Sora," Mickey said.

"Likewise King Mickey," replied Sora and then he looked at Kairi. "What are you doing here?"

Kairi let go of him and smiled. "I've been training with Riku here. Now that I have a Keyblade, Master Yen Sid wanted to train me so I can become one of the Guardians of Light," she said with a confident look in her face.

Sora was surprised by this. "Really? That's amazing Kairi. I'm sure you'll become a great Keyblade wielder," he said with admiration.

"Thank you, Sora," she said gratefully. Sora was happy to see all his friends, he was expecting to see Lea, but he hadn't come back from Radiant Garden yet.

"Sora," said Yen Sid to draw the boy's attention, "about the reason I called you, it's because I want to give you a mission."

Sora was a little confused; he wondered what kind of mission was. During his training he encountered Heartless, so if the mission was about them, it wouldn't be so hard.

"I'm sure that you have seen Heartless while you were outside, right?" Yen Sid asked, although he knew that he was correct.

Sora's face turned serious. "Yes, I've encountered a good number of Heartless, but they weren't a problem."

Yen Sid nodded at the Chosen One. "You have a lot of experience fighting them, that's why I want you to go to a certain place that is having problem with the Heartless. A friend of the King and mine sent us a message, according to him, his city is being invaded by the Heartless and he needs help."

"Then don't worry, destroying Heartless is my specialty," Sora said with confidence. "Is there something else I should know?"

Yen Sid closed his eyes for a second, and then he opened them. "Yes," he said. "I'm not sure if that city has a Keyhole, so you'll have to stay there until you're sure that the Heartless are not a threat to the city and its residents."

Sora was surprised at this, it was going to be the first time he was going to stay in the same place while doing a mission, but he was fine with it. "Alright, I'll do whatever it takes to keep the city safe," he said.

"Well," Mickey said, "we told our friend that we were sending the Keyblade Chosen One, and your reputation precedes you, so he'll be expecting that you will be the best."

Sora didn't know what to say, it seems that people have heard about what he has done since he was chosen by the Keyblade and he had to admit that it felt good to be considered the best.

"I will have to do my best to fulfill his expectations," said Sora.

"Just don't pick up any unnecessary fights, okay?" Riku joked as he patted Sora's back.

"And don't overdo it," Kairi said. "I'm looking forward to train with you, so I need you to be in one piece when you come back."

Sora smiled at his two old friends. "Don't need to worry about me, as I said, this is my specialty," he assured and then he looked at Donald and Goofy. "Guys, if you don't mind, I'd like to go alone this time."

They looked surprised at him; it was weird that Sora wanted to go alone since he always liked to have friends with him.

"Are you going to be fine without us?" Donald asked.

Sora grinned. "I will be fine, I just want to see if I have improved after my training," he replied. "Besides I'm sure you two will be needed here."

They looked at him with concerned, but then smiled. "Ok, if that's what you want, then we will stay here," said Goofy.

"Thanks guys," Sora said and then he looked at the old wizard. "So, what's the name of the city, Master?"

Yen Sid looked at him. "The place where you're going it's called…"

* * *

_**Death City**_

While Sora and the others were talking about the mission, there were two people talking in a room.

"How is it going in the city, Shinigami-sama?" said one of them.

"These creatures are really a problem," said the other. "We're lucky that your daughter and her friends are strong enough to fight them and protect the city, Spirit-kun."

"Yeah, but still, that won't be enough," Spirit said. "We need one of this Keyblade wielders that you mentioned."

"That's why I asked my friend for help," Shinigami said. "He is a former Keyblade wielder and he told me that the boy, known as the Keyblade Chosen One will be the one who will help us."

"Yeah, his name was Sora, right?" Spirit asked. "It's hard to believe that someone this young is the one who saved all those worlds."

"Well, your daughter is a year younger than him and she has done things that not all the girls at her age do," Shinigami said.

"I guess you're right," Spirit said, "but I'm still worried."

"Don't worry," Shinigami said cheerfully. "I'm sure he'll do a flawless work during his stay here."

* * *

**Ok guys, the first chapter it's done, in the next one Sora will arrive in Death City. I'll try to stick to the Soul Eater manga, instead of the anime.**


	2. The Arrival in Death City

_**The Arrival in Death City**_

"_Death City_," Sora thought about the name of the place he had to protect, it was a very peculiar name although he knows cities with weirder names.

He was in the Gummi Ship; it felt weird to be alone while going to a mission, but it was his decision. After a few hours, he was getting close to the city and a wide desert could be seen from the ship.

After looking at the desert, Sora turned his gaze to the huge city that was in the middle of it. "Well, it's the only city around here, so I guess that has to be one." He left the ship and walked a few steps to the entrance of the city. Before arriving in the city, he stopped and looked at the sky to be sure that the Gummi Ship was high enough to not be visible. Sora sweat-dropped when he saw the sun, it was the first time he saw a sun with a face and panting like if it was tired.

"This place is a little weird…" he muttered. He entered the city and saw lot of buildings with white walls and red roofs, some of them had a skull shaped mask in the top. Despite the strange look that the city had from outside, it looked very peaceful, in the streets there were people talking and doing their duties as well as kids running and playing.

"It looks that appearances can be deceiving," Sora said while smiling. "Despite the gloomy look from outside, the inner city appears to be pretty normal."

Sora took a paper from his pocket and read it. "_According to Master Yen Sid, as soon as I arrive on the city, the first place I must visit is the Death Meister Weapon Academy, also known as Shibusen, and look for someone called Shinigami,_" Sora thought as he took a look at his surroundings.

"I should ask someone for directions." Then he saw a girl with taupe brown hair with pigtails and wearing a white blouse with a yellow sweater vest, a red plaid skirt, and black boots with. She looked nice, so Sora decided to ask her where that academy was.

The girl was walking down the streets with some groceries bags in her hands. "_I can't believe he tricked me to do the shopping when it's his turn,_" she thought. "_If he doesn't help me with the dinner, I'll chop him right in the head._" She was lost in her thoughts when she bumped into someone.

When she looked at the person who bumped into her she saw a boy with brown spiky hair, and wearing a mostly black outfit.

"I'm sorry," he apologized with a sheepish smile. "I didn't mean to bump into you."

"Don't apologize, I wasn't looking where I was going so it's my fault," said the girl with a smile. "Are you a student of Shibusen? I think I've never seen you before."

"I'm new in the city," replied Sora. "Wait, did you say Shibusen?"

"Yes, that's the academy where I study," she affirmed proudly.

Sora sighed in relief. "If you don't mind, could you tell where it is?"

"Of course, Shibusen is that big building at the end of the city," she said, pointing to the academy. "You will have to walk to the end of the main street and then climb some stairs."

He nodded. "Got it, thanks…umm?"

"Maka, Maka Albarn," she answered with a smile on her face.

He returned the smile. "I'm Sora, just Sora. Thank you Maka."

She giggled. "You're welcome Sora." Before leaving she looked at him with a more serious face. "Hey Sora," she began, "if you're staying in the city, you should be careful when the night comes."

"Why?" asked Sora.

"We've been having problems with some black monsters lately," Maka replied with a worried look on her face. "They attack people at night, so be careful, okay?"

Sora thought that she could be referring to the Heartless; it was weird that they only attacked at night and what it was even more unusual it's that he hadn't been attacked yet. Sora noticed that the girl was a bit worried, so he tried to reassure her.

"Don't worry about me, Maka," he said. "Besides, I'm sure that someone will take care of those monsters soon."

Maka didn't know how, but she suddenly felt better. "Yeah, maybe you're right. I can't let this overcome me."

"That's more like it," Sora said. "Now, I should go to the academy before night falls."

"All right, I hope to see you again," said Maka as she started to leave.

"See you!" Sora said while running to the Shibusen.

* * *

_**Maka and Soul's apartment**_

A boy with white hair swept to one side, and red eyes was sat in a sofa watching TV and waiting for his roommate who left to do the shopping

"_Damn,_" he thought, "_what is taking her so long? I'm starting to get worried._"

He was about to stand up and look for her when he heard the door of the apartment opening and he saw the girl. "Finally!" he exclaimed. "Why did take you so long?"

"Hello to you too, Soul," Maka said. "And you shouldn't be complaining. May I remind you who was the one supposed to do the shopping today?"

"Fine, I'll make it up to you and prepare the dinner," Soul said. "But still, you got me worried; I was starting to think that the Heartless attacked you."

"Thanks for your concern," Maka said. "If you really want to know why I'm a little late, it was because I was helping a boy to find Shibusen."

Soul sighed when he heard this. "Here I was, thinking that you were in troubles and it turns out that you were flirting with someone."

"I didn't say that you idiot!" Maka exclaimed with a red face.

Soul laughed. "Why are you blushing then?"

Maka was pissed at this so she took a book and walked near Soul. "Maka…" she started.

Soul stopped laughing immediately when he realized what she was going to do. "Wait! Maka, don't!"

"-CHOP!" Maka shouted interrupting him from finish what he was about to say by crashing a book in his head. He was lying on the floor with smoke coming from his head.

"Why are you always this brute…?" muttered Soul.

Maka smiled in satisfaction. "This way you will stop with the teasing. Anyway I told that boy to be careful at night, you know, when the Heartless attack."

Soul got up as he rubbed his head and looked at Maka. "I wouldn't worry too much," said Soul. "Today Kid, Liz and Patty are going to patrol the streets to be sure that nobody is attacked. Besides, remember that Shinigami-sama said that a friend of his was going to send a…uh…how was it called?"

Maka looked at him hopelessly. "A Keyblade wielder, Soul. They are formidable warriors that protect the worlds of threats like the Heartless."

"Whatever, if he's as strong as Shinigami-sama said it's cool for me," said Soul.

"I'm really curious to see how he is," Maka said. "I can't wait to meet him."

* * *

_**Shibusen**_

Sora sneezed while he was climbing the stairs that led to Shibusen. "Someone must be talking about me…" he said. He reached the end of the stairs and stared in awe at the building in front of him. "_This looks more like a castle than a school,_" he thought and started walking towards the front gate.

When he crossed the door, he saw three people waiting for him, two girls and one boy. The boy was dressed with a black suit and had three white lines on his short black hair. The two girls were blonde and wear matching cowgirl outfits, sleeveless red shirts with white ties, cowboy hats and black high-heel boots.

"Excuse me," said the boy to Sora, "would you happen to be Sora, by any chance?"

Sora stared at him for a second. "Uh, yeah, that's me…why?"

The boy walked to him and extended his hand. "It's an honor to meet you at last," he said smiling while shaking hands with Sora. "My name is Death the Kid, but call me Kid. These are Elizabeth and Patricia Thompson."

"Hey," said the tall girl, "you can call me Liz, nice to meet you."

"Hi! I'm Patty" said the other girl happily and then she started to stare at Sora. "You don't look like we expected."

Sora looked at her confused. "Uh? What do you mean, Patty?" he said.

Liz laughed slightly. "What my sister is trying to say is that when Kid told us that we were waiting for a great and powerful person, well…" she tried to explain and then her sister finished for her.

"We expected someone big and scary, but you look cuter than scary," commented Patty.

Sora blushed a little when she said that and laughed sheepishly. "Well, looks can be deceiving, I guess…" he said a little embarrassed. When Sora was going to ask Kid if he could lead him to Shinigami-sama, he saw the boy sprawled on the floor. "Hey Kid, are you okay?" asked a worried Sora.

"I…I didn't realize until now…" Kid stuttered.

"What are you…" began Sora but Kid interrupted him.

"Your hair…" he said.

"My hair? What's wrong with it?" Sora asked while stroking one of his spikes.

"Oh no," said a frustrated Liz, "here we go again." Patty was laughing really hard behind her.

Sora didn't understand a thing, and then Kid said something. "Your hair is a mess! It's no symmetrical at all!" said a gloomy Kid.

"Forget him, he's crazy," Liz said and then crouched near the depressed boy. "Come on Kid don't start this again, we've to escort Sora to the Death Room."

Sora was surprised by this but let out a chuckle. "Well, this is going to be interesting."

* * *

**And here's chapter two, this is going better than I expected, can't wait to finish the next chapter.**


	3. Meeting Shinigami and The Night Patrol

_**Meeting Shinigami and the Night Patrol**_

After waiting ten minutes, Kid regained his composure. He and his partners accompanied Sora to see Shinigami-sama. Now they were walking down a path with several torii gates that looked guillotines

"_Thank God these are just gates stylized to look like guillotines; it would be a problem if the blade fell when you pass below like in Halloween Town,_" Sora thought.

They reached the end of the hallway, where there were two people talking. A black figure with a funny skull mask and a man with red hair and dressed in black.

"Father, we're here," Kid said to the black figure.

Sora was surprised at what Kid said. "_Did he say…father?_" he thought.

"Ah, Kid-kun, thank you for bringing him here," said the man with the skull mask. Then he turned his head and titled it a little. "Why hello, you must be Sora, am I correct?" he said with his funny voice

Sora looked at him firmly. "Yes sir, I'm here for..." he began but was soon interrupted by Shinigami.

"To take care of the Heartless, right?" finished him.

Sora thought that if this person knew why he was here, then he must be the Shinigami he was looking for.

"As you may have deduced, I am Lord Death or Shinigami if you prefer, the headmaster of Shibusen, and this one here is Spirit-kun, my friend and partner," he said pointing the man next to him.

Spirit waved his hand. "Nice to meet you," he said. Sora nodded while smiling at him.

"Now Sora," Shinigami began, "as you know we've been having troubles with the Heartless recently. We hope that you could lend us a hand and try to keep our city safe."

Sora gave him an assuring smile. "Of course, that's why I am here," he said. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to keep the Heartless in check."

"I'm happy to hear that," Shinigami-sama said, "and now that you mentioned it, you will need a place to live while you're here, so I've prepared an apartment. Here, this is the address."

"Really?" Sora said while taking the paper with the address. "That's awesome, thanks."

"It's the least I can do for you," he began, "I also enrolled you in the academy, this way you can get along with the students and ask them for help if you need."

Sora was taken aback when the Shinigami said the last part. "_School? Oh man…_" Sora thought.

Kid patted Sora's shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Sora," he said, "it's not what you think, I'm sure you'll like it."

"If you say so," answered Sora.

"You'll be in the same class as Kid so he can show you where it is tomorrow, now he has something to do," Shinigami-sama said.

"Yes, we should get going," Kid said. "Let's go Liz, Patty. See you tomorrow Sora."

Sora nodded. "Okay, bye guys" he said while waving his hand to them. Sora watched the meister and his two companions leaving the room and then Shinigami spoke to him.

"You should leave too, Sora," he said while clapping his big hands, "tomorrow you'll have a really full day so try to get a good sleep, okay?"

Sora laughed slightly. "Alright, see you later," he said as he walked away.

The headmaster looked at the man at his right. "What do you think?" asked Shinigami to Spirit.

"Well," he began, "it was a good first impression. We've still got to see how he deals with the Heartless."

Sora crossed the principal gate of Shibusen and looked at the sky, it was already dark. He started to walk down the stairs, when he saw the moon, it was laughing with blood coming from its mouth. "_Seriously?_" he thought. "_That is even creepier than the sun."_

* * *

_**Death City**_

Monitoring the city, there were Kid, Liz and Patty, doing a night patrol to make sure the Heartless weren't attacking anybody.

"This is getting on my nerves…" commented Liz while walking behind Patty. She was covered behind her little sister and had a pale face.

"It's okay sis, this is fun," Patty cheered happily.

"How can be fun when these creepy monsters could be anywhere…" answered Liz

Kid sighed. "That's exactly why we're here, Liz. We can't let the Heartless to cause more havoc. Besides this will be the last patrol, now that Sora is…" While Kid was explaining this to Liz, a scream could be heard.

"Someone is in danger!" Kid exclaimed. "Move girls, we must hurry!"

"Right!" they said.

While Sora walked toward his new apartment, he saw some establishment that looked like a night club. "Chupa Cabra's," he read. He continued through the street, looking at the paper Shinigami-same gave him. "I've got to be close to the flat." He turned a corner and arrived to the building.

"There it is, let's see ho-" his thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone scream. It was clear to him that someone was being attacked by the Heartless, so he started running to help the person who was in danger.

* * *

Walking down the streets there was a young woman, she was trying to get to her home as fast as she could. She knew that if you were on the streets at night, the risk of being attacked by the Heartless was very high. What she didn't know is that she was being followed by a Heartless at the moment and it was waiting for the right moment to steal her heart. Then she heard a noise and turned her head.

"Who's there?" she asked.

She didn't see anything, her heart was pounding and she was cold sweating. She heard the noise again and this time she saw the Heartless, three Neoshadows to be more precise. She panicked and let out a scream and started running really fast, but unfortunately, she fell. The Heartless were in front of her now, staring at the woman with their yellow eyes. One Neoshadow raised its claw to kill the woman and she clenched her eyes and covered her ears.

The woman expected to get killed by them, but nothing happened so she opened her eyes. The Heartless were gone and in its place there was a spiky haired boy with a very strange sword in his hand. He turned and looked at her.

Sora made his Keyblade disappear and then walked to the woman. "Don't worry, I take care of them," he said giving her a reassuring smile. "Are you okay, miss?"

She didn't say anything for a moment, but then she quickly got up and embraced Sora in a hug.

"Thank you! Thank you very much! I'd be dead if it's wasn't for you!" she said.

Sora's cheeks went a little red. "It's nothing, really," he said while rubbing the back of his head.

After thanking Sora again, the woman continued her way home. Sora stayed in the same spot where he saved the woman, and then he heard someone.

"That was impressive," said a boy. Sora turned to see who he was and saw the boy he met at the entrance of Shibusen with his two partners.

"What are you doing here?" asked Sora a little surprised to see them.

"Patrolling the city like superheroes!" cheered Patty causing Sora to laugh.

"We're in charge of the night patrol tonight. We heard a scream so we ran to see what was going on, but it seems that you were faster than us."

"It was amazing," Liz began, "you took down those Heartless like if it was nothing."

Sora chuckled lightly. "Yeah, years of experience I guess," he said. "Why didn't you tell me that you were patrolling this night? I could have tagged along."

"My father thought that it'd be better to let you rest today, you must be tired after the trip," Kid said. "But after seeing what you just did, I think that you will be really helpful."

"Lead the way then," Sora said.

"All right, let's go!" said Patty raising her fist to the air.

They went through many streets but after the incident with the Neoshadows, the rest of the city looked very quiet. Sora found strange that only three of them attacked.

"Hey Kid, can I ask you something?" Sora said to him.

"Sure, go ahead," answered Kid.

"What kind of school is Shibusen?" Sora asked. "I remember that you told me that it wasn't what I was thinking."

"Well," Kid began, "Shibusen is a place my father created that protects the world from evil. There are two kinds of students in the academy, the meisters and the weapons. The weapons, as their name indicates, are people who can transform into a weapon."

"_Wow, that's really something._" Sora thought. "Every kind of weapon?" he asked to Kid.

"Yes, swords, halberds, hammers, scythes, guns," Kid answered. "They are partnered with the meisters, the other kind of student, this way they can make a team. However, the meister and the weapon must be compatible if they want to work together."

"That's something I don't hear very often…wait a moment, then you three are a team?" asked Sora with curiosity.

Kid smiled. "That's right, Liz and Patty are weapons and I'm his meister."

Sora looked amazed at them. "So, what kind of weapons are you girls?"

"We're guns," Liz answered him, "both of us. When we transform, we're two identical handguns."

"Yes," interrupted Kid, "they are perfectly symmetrical in their weapon form, it's perfect," Kid said happily with sparkles on his eyes

Sora laughed slightly. "_I should have guessed_," he thought.

While Sora was laughing, in the floor appeared black blobs which he noticed it and drew his Keyblade.

"We've got company," he said to them. Soon they were surrounded by several Neoshadows and normal Shadows.

"Liz, Patty!" Kid called to his weapons and they transformed. "_Stance of Punishment," _said Kid while making a defensive pose.

"Are you ready?" asked Sora while smiling confidently.

"Let's do this," answered Kid returning the smile.

"Let's kick their asses!" shouted Patty.

Sora and Kid were back to back, preparing themselves for the upcoming attack of their enemies. One of the Neoshadows jumped to attack them, Sora gripped his Keyblade tightly and jumped to the Heartless slashing it before it could attack, then three Heartless tried to attack Sora from behind.

"_Sanzu River Shot!" _Three purple bullets destroyed the Heartless that were about to attack Sora.

A Neoshadow emerged from the floor with an insane speed and charged to Sora. He crouched and hit the Heartless sending it very high, then jumped above the Neoshadow and slashed it. Before he started descending, several Darkballs appeared in front of him. He prepared his Keyblade like if he was going to launch it to them.

"_Judgment Triad!_" he shouted and he launched three Keyblades created with light that pursued and destroyed all the Darkballs.

He landed and saw Kid dealing with the other Heartless. The shinigami used a Heartless' head to take impulse and dodge the attacks that the others were launching at him. He looked at them and aimed down, and then a rain of bullets destroyed the remaining dark monsters.

"It's over?" asked Liz.

"I think so," answered Sora while vanishing his Keyblade "That would teach them for today."

Kid sighed in relief while Liz and Patty turned back to normal. Sora walked to them. "I've got say that you three were great."

"Not as good as you," Kid said. "It looks that the stories about you were true."

"Yeah, I feel more relaxed knowing that you will be here to lend us a hand," added Liz

Sora laughed sheepishly. "Well, I don't think we'll see more Heartless tonight so I should go to my apartment and sleep."

"I second that," said Liz raising her hand a little. "Kid, let's go home and sleep, we need to rest after all this patrolling, besides we've got to get up early for school tomorrow."

Kid nodded in agreement. "You're right," he said, and then he looked at Sora. "We'll meet you in the entrance tomorrow to show you where our class is."

"Right, see you tomorrow then," said Sora and he started to walk toward his apartment. The Shinigami and his partners did it too.

* * *

_**Death Room**_

Shinigami-sama and Spirit Albarn were watching the fight that the four kids were having.

"Well, I can say that the security of the city is in good hands," Shinigami-sama said.

"I've got to admit," Spirit said, "he's good, really good."

"Let's see how he does tomorrow with his classmates," said the headmaster.


	4. The New Student of Shibusen

_**The New Student of Shibusen**_

Walking toward the academy, there were two people, a girl and a boy. The boy looked tired and had a sleepy face.

"Hey, Maka," the boy said a little annoyed, "isn't it a little early to start walking to class? There won't be anyone in Shibusen, not even the teachers."

The girl turned to look at him. "I know Soul," she began, "but we've to assure that the way to the academy is safe for the other students. Besides, this way Blair won't bother you while you sleep."

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" he answered with an emotionless voice.

"Come on, cheer up, and remember that the Keyblade wielder arrives today, those monsters won't be a problem anymore," said Maka as she started climbing the stairs that led to Shibusen.

Soul smirked a little. "That's true, I wonder how he is," he said with curiosity.

Maka looked at him with suspicious eyes. "I hope that you and Black*Star don't do the same thing when Kid enrolled."

Soul chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't. But I can't talk for that idiot."

* * *

_**Gallows Mansion**_

Meanwhile in a mansion at the outskirts of Death City, Death the Kid and the Thompson sisters were preparing themselves for going to the academy to meet Sora at the entrance.

"I hope that everything goes smooth today," commented Kid.

Liz looked at him with a comforting smile. "You worry too much, Kid. I'm sure Sora will be fine."

Kid looked at her crossing his arms. "Do you remember what happened when we joined the academy?" asked him.

Liz raised an eyebrow looking at him quizzically. "What are yo-" she began but then remembered what happened. "Oh, now I get it."

Kid nodded. "Anyway," he began, "we better get going. I don't want to make Sora wait."

The Keyblade wielder exited his apartment after a good sleep and started walking toward the academy. I wasn't sure if he wanted to attend to a school, but he couldn't do anything about it now.

"_It's been almost two years since the last time I put a foot in a school,_" he thought. "_Well, if it's like Kid said, then it wouldn't be so bad after all._"

The city looked really peaceful during the day; a lot of shops were opened or were starting to open. Sora saw some teens exiting their houses. "_They're probably Shibusen students too,_" he thought.

He arrived at the long stairs that led to the academy and started to walk up them. There were lots of boys and girls doing the same. When he reached the end of the stairs he saw that there were a lot of people near the entrance of the academy so Sora decided to take a look.

He reached the crowd and noticed that everyone was looking up, so he did the same. He saw a boy standing in the tip of a spiked structure of the building. Sora half closed his eyes to see him better. He could see that the boy had blue spiked hair and was wearing a ninja outfit.

"_What is he doing up there?_" he thought.

The boy pointed to the sky. "LISTEN UP SHIBUSEN!" he shouted. "I KNOW THAT YOU ALL ARE WORRIED ABOUT THOSE BLACK MONSTERS, BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY BECAUSE I, BLACK*STAR, WILL DESTROY THEM ALL!"

Sora looked at him with wide eyes but with an amused face. "_Looks like I have some rivalry in the Heartless hunt._"

Despite Sora's interest in the boy, the others had a bored look on their faces.

"That idiot is doing it again…" a boy said.

"Let's just ignore him like always," said another one.

After that the crowd started getting into the academy, so Sora did the same. He crossed the front door, and then Kid and the Thompson Sisters saw him.

"Sora, over here!" said Patty while waving her hand.

Sora saw them and walked toward them. "Hey guys, good morning"

"Good morning," yawned Liz.

"Well, if you're ready, we will lead you to our class," Kid said.

Sora nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

They started walking toward the class. Sora started to look at his surroundings, trying to memorize the place, he saw some kind of bulletin board and there were some students looking at it. As they walked Sora could overhear a conversation between two girls.

"Did you hear the rumors?" one of them said.

"No," said the other girl, "what happened?"

"I heard that yesterday at night there was another attack," the first girl answered. "Those monsters attacked a woman that was alone in the streets."

"Oh no…" said the second girl with a worried tone. "What happened to her?"

"Surprisingly nothing, someone destroyed those creatures and saved her," the other answered.

"Wow, I wonder who it was," the last girl commented.

Sora was surprised at how people already know about their fight of the last night. Kid heard the girls too and leaned closer to Sora.

"It looks that our fight didn't go unnoticed," he whispered to him.

Sora laughed lightly. "Yeah, it would appear so," he said. "Maybe we were too noisy."

Kid laughed too. "Well, sooner or later, the entire academy will know that you're here, so you won't have to worry about being discreet."

Finally they arrived at the door of the class.

"Here it is," said Kid. "Class Crescent Moon, this will be your class. We've different teachers, but the main one is Professor Stein. Look there he comes."

Sora turned to see someone coming in an office chair; he had silver-gray hair, which Sora thought that looked like Riku's, and wearing a doctor's lab coat, but what stood out most was the large screw going through his head.

"Well, who do we have here?" the man said looking at Sora.

"Hello sir, I'm-" Sora began but was interrupted by Stein.

"Sora, right?" he finished.

"Uh, yeah," affirmed the Keybearer. "_Does everyone know my name here?_"

Kid patted Sora's shoulder. "We are going to go inside, see you in there."

"Alright," Sora answered and then looked at the man in the chair again.

"Finally I've got to meet you," Stein said while smiling. "I'm Professor Stein, it's a pleasure."

"Likewise," said Sora. "Kid told me that you will be my teacher while I'm here."

"Ah yes," Stein began, "Shinigami-sama told me the reason of your visit, but first let me say that you did a good work yesterday."

Sora looked at him with disbelief. "You know?" asked him.

Stein found his question funny. "Yes, Shinigami-sama told me," he said. "He's always aware of what is happening in the city."

* * *

_**Class Crescent Moon**_

While Sora and Stein were talking, the students of the Class Crescent Moon were doing the same. A certain girl with two pigtails was reading a book.

"What are you reading now?" asked Soul with curiosity.

"I found this book in the library, it talks about the Keyblade wielders," said Maka. "I'd like to know more about the person that is going to help us."

"You sure are excited about it, Maka-chan," commented a girl next to her. She was tall and had black hair tied into a long ponytail.

Maka giggled. "Well it's the first time that a Keyblade wielder is coming to Death City, so is normal that I'm a little curious. Aren't you curious, Tsubaki?"

"Yes," she admitted. "I wonder if he as young as us."

"If he is strong I'm going to fight him," assured a boy who was sat next to the girl with black hair. He is the one who was giving a speech outside the academy.

"Told you…" Soul whispered to Maka.

"Do you really need pick a fight with everyone in the academy Black*Star?" asked Maka who was annoyed by the boy's attitude.

"Only if they are strong enough to fight me," affirmed him while grinning. Tsubaki sighed at his friend behavior.

Soul decided to change the topic before someone got Maka-chopped. "Did you three hear about the attack of yesterday?" he asked.

Maka closed her book and looked at Soul. "Yeah, it looks like a woman was attacked by some Heartless. But thankfully, someone saved her in time."

"Do you think Kid, Liz and Patty were the ones who saved her?" asked Tsubaki concerned.

"Well why don't we ask him ourselves?" said Soul, pointing at the door. Kid and the Thompson sisters were there, entering the class. They went to sit near to their friends.

"Hello everyone," greeted Liz as she sat.

"Hi!" said a cheerful Patty.

"Hey Kid," said Maka addressing the Shinigami.

"What is it?" asked him looking at her.

"We've heard that some Heartless attacked a woman the last night," she told him. "You three were patrolling the city yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, we're watching over the city yesterday and saw the Heartless," said Kid. "But we weren't the ones who saved the woman."

Soul grew curious. "Then who was it?"

"The Keyblade wielder that my father talked us about," he said with a smile. "He arrived yesterday at evening."

None of them expected that answer.

"He's here?!" asked a surprised Maka. "I thought he was going to arrive today."

Liz smiled at Maka. "Well, it seems that he arrived sooner than expected, and I'm grateful," she said. "Thanks to him we could finish sooner."

"What's he like?" asked Tsubaki.

"He looks a little older than us, I'd say that he's fifteen or sixteen years old," he answered. "He has spiky brown hair, blue eyes, and his clothes are mostly black."

Maka had a pensive look after hearing the description of the Keybearer and Soul noticed.

"What is it, Maka?" he asked.

"That description, it reminds me of-" Maka explained but was interrupted by the sound of someone opening the door of the class. Professor Stein just entered the class followed by a boy. When Maka saw the boy behind Professor Stein, she was surprised to see that it was the same one she met yesterday after buying the dinner.

"It's him." she whispered.

"Who is he?" asked Soul.

"He's the boy I met yesterday," answered her.

"Listen up kids!" said Stein trying to get his students' attention. "As everyone should know, dark monsters called Heartless have been attacking the city recently. Shinigami-sama decided that it was necessary to ask for help from outside, so this boy here is the one who is going to help us, is known as a Keyblade wielder…"

At hearing this, the students started whispering.

"What the hell is a Keyblade?" said a boy.

"No idea," answered another boy. "His clothes are pretty cool though."

"And he's kind of cute," whispered a girl.

"Please, you will have time for that later," said Stein interrupting the chattering. "As I was saying, this boy's weapon is the only one that can make the Heartless disappear, so he will be staying with us for a time. I hope you can get along with him and don't cause him any troubles, okay? Now we'll begin with the class."

Sora went to sit down next to Kid. "I guess I'm no longer a secret."

Kid laughed at his remark. "It's better this way," he said. "Although the students are going to get curious."

The class began, and everyone was now listening to Stein. Sora noticed that Maka was looking at him, still a little surprised. He turned his head a little to look her with his right eye and smiled.

The class ended and some of the students were now leaving. Kid now was going to introduce Sora to the other meisters.

"Guys, I'd like to introduce you to…" Kid began but was interrupted by Maka.

"Sora," she said.

"Wait," Kid asked quizzically, "you two knew each other?"

Sora chuckled slightly. "Yeah, I met her yesterday, right after I entered the city."

"Why didn't you tell me that you were a Keyblade wielder?" asked her crossing her arms and pouting.

"You never asked," Sora answered shrugging with a grin on his face making the others laugh.

"Well, now we know your name so it's our turn," said Soul and he extended his hand. "I am Soul Eater, it's a pleasure."

"That's a pretty cool name, Soul." Sora said as he shook hands with him.

"Thanks man," said Soul gratefully with a grin in his face.

Then a girl behind Soul walked next to Sora and bowed. "I'm Tsubaki Nakatsukasa. Thanks Sora for helping us," she said respectfully.

Sora was a little taken aback at her bow. "Nice to meet you Tsubaki, but you don't need to act so formal towards me," he said a little embarrassed. She smiled at him seeing how friendly he was.

Then the blue haired boy next to Tsubaki was about to introduce himself, but Sora cut him off. "You must be the Great Black*Star, right?" asked Sora.

The others had a surprised look on their faces when Sora said that.

"You know me?" asked Black Star, and then started to arch his back while laughing. "See guys, the great Black*Star is known around the world."

"Actually," commented Sora with an amused face, "I saw you before entering the academy today. You were giving a speech of how you were going to destroy all the Heartless if I am not mistaken."

Black*Star stopped laughing and sweat-dropped while the others sighed.

"You'll never change Black Star," said Soul.

"What an idiot…" muttered Maka.

Then Black*Star straightened up and pointed at Sora. "Sora, let's fight!"

Kid sighed. "Here we go again."

Sora was a little surprise at this. "Wait, why do you want to fight me?"

"If you're going to protect the city from the Heartless, then I'll have to see if you're strong enough," he said with determination.

Sora crossed his arms and closed his eyes to think it for a moment. He thought that Black*Star was right, so he decided to accept the duel.

"You have a point there," he said. "Okay we'll fight as long as your partner agrees too."

"Alright!" said a fired up Black*Star. "What do you say Tsubaki?"

"Well if Sora agrees to fight then I'll be at your side," agreed Tsubaki.

Suddenly Stein talked to them. "If you're going to fight, then do it outside, in front of the academy. I'll be the witness, come on," he said as he got out of the class in his chair, then the Shibusen students started following him.

Kid sighed in defeat. "This is what I didn't want to happen."

"It was inevitable, Kid," Soul said. "The only thing we can do now is watch the fight."

"Yeah, remember that you fought Black*Star voluntarily too, when we enrolled in the academy," Liz said.

"Yeah, but he was fighting with a partner who was incompatible with him." Kid said referring to Soul.

"And it was a disaster; I don't think I could stand seeing another "_Friendship Combination_"," said Maka smiling at Soul.

"Thanks for making me remember that," said an annoyed Soul.


	5. Sora vs Black Star

_**Sora vs. Black*Star**_

After hearing that Black*Star and Sora were going to have a duel, Stein decided that it would be interesting to watch it, so he offered to be the witness and recommended them to fight outside of the academy. The professor and his students were now walking to Shibusen's courtyard.

"Hey Kid," said Patty trying to get the shinigami's attention, "who do you think will win?"

"Well, I have to admit that Black*Star is one of the strongest students here, even if he is a moron," he answered. "But I don't think he can defeat a Keyblade wielder of Sora's level."

Maka then turned to her teacher. "Say, Professor Stein, have you ever seen a Keyblade wielder fight?" asked her.

"Sora is the only Keyblade wielder I've ever seen, so I'm as curious as you. Besides, according to Shinigami-sama he's not an ordinary one."

As they talked, Tsubaki warned the people in the courtyard that there was going to be a duel. Some students of Shibusen heard about the fight Black*Star was going to have with the new student, so they went outside to see it.

"What do you mean he's not an ordinary one?" asked Maka with curiosity.

Stein smiled at her. "Do you know what the ranks are for Keyblade wielders?"

Maka thought for a moment. "Yeah…I think I read it on my book. There are three ranks: apprentice, wielder and master if I'm correct."

Patty tugged her sister shirt. "Sis, didn't Kid's father said that Sora was a chosen one or something like that?"

"Uh, yeah I think so," answered Liz with a pensive face.

"That's right," said Stein, "the Keyblade Chosen One, a legend between Keybearers. It's said that the chosen one has a level far above any other Keyblade wielder."

Maka and Soul looked a little worried. "Then, has Black*Star any chances?" asked Maka.

"Why don't we watch the fight and find out?" said Stein looking at the boys who were going to fight.

Sora, Black*Star and Tsubaki were in their position looking at each other ready to begin.

"You better don't hold back!" said the blue haired boy.

"If you don't, I won't" said Sora whit a grin on his face.

"Let's go Tsubaki!" Black*Star said to his partner.

"Alright!" answered her. She transformed into two scythes that were united by a long chain. Sora looked amazed at her weapon form.

"Okay, let's go!" he said as he drew his Keyblade. Everyone watched the weapon in awe, not having seen one before, and then the fight began.

Sora dashed really fast trying to make the first hit. Black*Star could jump in the last moment before Sora could hit him. When he was in the air he launched one of the scythes of the Kusarigama, but Sora parried it and jumped to hit him and the ninja blocked his attack with the other scythe. They both landed and ran to hit the other and their weapons clashed.

"I've got to admit that you're fast!" said Black*Star.

"Same to you," replied Sora.

"But that isn't enough!" the ninja said. Then the Kusarigama transformed into a small sword. Sora was surprised that Tsubaki had another form. They struggled, but then Black*Star step to the side and tried to cut Sora, but he could dodge it by an inch and he stepped back.

"_That was close,"_ the Keybearer thought.

Tsubaki transformed again into the Kusarigama. Black*Star rushed to Sora and began attacking him with fast attacks. Sora could manage to block his offensive. They were moving through the courtyard really fast.

Suddenly, Black*Star launched again one of the scythes to Sora and the Keybearer crouched to avoid the scythe, and then blocked the attack Black*Star did with his other scythe.

Then the blue haired boy smirked. "I got you now!"

Sora looked at him puzzled but then he realized that he was between Black*Star and the first scythe. Black*Star pulled the chain and the scythe trapped Sora's leg.

"Dammit!" he said. He tried to break free, but failed and Black*Star launched him to the air.

"Tsubaki, Shuriken mode!" cried Black*Star, and then Tsubaki transformed into a huge shuriken and Black*Star launched it to Sora.

The shuriken flew at an amazing speed to the Keybearer; Sora put his Keyblade in front of him. The huge shuriken clashed with the Keyblade, but it didn't stop, it kept rotating really fast and sparks appeared because of the friction. The shuriken started stopping after a few seconds.

Seen this, Sora used his other hand to grab the shuriken and launched it back to his opponent.

"What?!" said Black*Star and Tsubaki with puzzled faces. They were surprised that Sora could grab her like if it was nothing.

The people watching the fight were looking at Sora in disbelief.

"Well, that was unexpected," said Stein while smiling.

Maka looked at Sora with amazement. "He simply grabbed her, without even think about it."

"Maka, let me ask you something," said Stein. "You were the first person meeting Sora when he arrived, right?"

"Uh, yeah, that's right," answered her confused by the question.

"Did you, by any chance, take a look at his soul?" asked Stein.

Maka then understand where he was going. "Oh, well, I didn't," she answered. "I didn't know he was a Keyblade wielder when I met him, so I hadn't any reason to do it."

Stein then looked at Kid. "And you Kid?"

"I tried yesterday, when I was fighting the Heartless at his side, but I could barely see it," the boy said.

Stein smiled at him. "Well, that's normal," he told them. "Unlike us, the Keyblade wielders use the strength of their hearts, not of their souls, so you'll need to focus more to see the soul of a Keyblade wielder when he's fighting."

"You're not talking about a physical heart, right?" asked Liz a little confused.

"Of course not." answered Stein. "Although the heart and the soul have a connection, they are very different things. The soul can tell the personality of the person, while the heart tells his tendency towards things. You could ask Sora if you want, I'm sure he can explain it better."

Returning to the fight, Tsubaki returned to normal and landed next to Black*Star. Sora returned to the floor at the same time.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to use that," said Black*Star smirking.

"That?" asked Sora preparing himself.

"You'll see Tsubaki's most powerful form!" Black*Star said pointing to the Keybearer.

_"How many forms has Tsubaki?!"_ thought Sora, impressed that the girl had so many weapon forms.

"Tsubaki, Uncanny Sword Mode!" said Black*Star.

When Black*Star said that, Tsubaki transformed into a katana with a black blade. The face of the meister was covered with black stripes.

Sora looked at them surprised, it was the first time he fought someone like this and he was starting to enjoy it.

Black*Star charged at Sora so fast that it looked like if he teleported, however Sora blocked his attack with ease. Black*Star disappeared from where he was, and appeared behind Sora. Sora without turning back put his Keyblade behind his back and parried the attack leaving an opening in Black*Star defense. He turned and hit the ninja in the torso sending him backwards.

"Dammit, that hurt!" said Black*Star to himself. He recovered himself and used his feet to stop from going any further, and then charged at Sora again. The Keybearer did it too.

Both of them where moving really fast around the courtyard. Almost no one could see them because of their speed. Shockwaves could be seen when their sword clashed, destroying some parts of the floor.

The spectators looked the two fighters with astonishment.

"This fight has nothing to do with the one we had," said Liz to Kid and Patty. They nodded while watching the fight.

Soul and Maka looked the fight with wide eyes and their mouth opened.

Sora and Black*Star continued trying to break the other one guard. Black*Star was panting and Tsubaki noticed.

"Black*Star, you can't hold this mode any longer," Tsubaki said worried for him

"Then we'll have to finish this quickly!" he answered, and then he ran to Sora. They Keyblade wielder noticed that the ninja was getting tired, he thought that the technique he was using was draining his energy, so Sora decided to finish the battle before Black*Star gets hurt.

"Tsubaki, use the shadow!" Black*Star said.

"Okay!" said Tsubaki. Suddenly the shadow of Black*Star came out of the floor and several black spikes attacked Sora. He could destroy some of them, but that gave Black*Star the opportunity to attack.

The ninja put his sword between Sora and the Keyblade and with a pull he disarmed the Keybearer. Sora had his guard down so Black*Star's idea was a success. Sora retreated and kept distance with his opponent.

The Keyblade was now behind the ninja, stuck to the ground.

"This ends here, Sora!" shouted Black*Star, and started running at him. Sora smiled and acquired a position, like if he was holding a blade on its sheath and he started to glow with a gold aura.

Black*Star looked puzzled at him, but then he saw that the Keyblade had returned to his hand.

"What the-?!" said Black*Star in disbelief.

"It came back to him!" exclaimed Tsubaki in surprise.

Black*Star led his guard down when he saw this, and Sora took this opportunity to attack.

"_Zantetsuken_," he said with a calm voice and performed a powerful slash. The attack was so fast that he appeared behind Black*Star. The ninja fell to the ground defeated and the battle was over.

Tsubaki turned back to normal. "Black*Star, are you okay?" she asked a bit worried.

Black*Star got up and sit cross-legged in the ground. "Damn, I thought this was going to be a piece of cake," he said while rubbing the back of his head. Sora made his Keyblade disappear and walked to them and stood in front of Black*Star.

"That was one of the best fights I've ever had," he said while offering his hand to Black*Star. The ninja grinned and took his hand, and then Sora helped him to stand up.

Meanwhile the students who were the fight looked amazed at the Keybearer.

"To be honest, I saw this result coming," said Kid.

"This was more interesting than I expected," added Liz.

"Maka…" said Stein trying to get the girl's attention.

"What is it?" asked her.

"Now that they finished," the doctor began, "could you try to look at Sora's soul?"

Maka closed her eyes, trying to focus just on the Keyblade wielder. It was a little difficult but she managed to do it.

"I've got it," said Maka

"What do you see?" asked Stein.

"Ummm…it looks like his soul is compatible with every other soul…" said Maka. "Like Tsubaki's soul that can adapt to others wavelength."

Stein smiled at her. "That's right. However he doesn't need to adapt his soul," he added.

"It's possible to be compatible with every soul?" asked Soul.

"Well," Liz began, "he's a very likable person, so it wouldn't be strange."

"I agree," said Kid, "despite his asymmetrical hair, he's a very nice person."

Maka and Soul sweat-dropped and laughed slightly at what Kid said. Then Maka looked at Sora as he talked to Tsubaki and Black*Star.

"Well, we just talked a few minutes, but it was really nice," Maka commented.

"There's something really genuine about him," admitted Soul.

"A Keyblade wielder…" muttered Stein, "I want to dissect him," he said whit a perturbed face and a twisted smile.

The students looked at the professor with a pale and scared face. After Stein creepy line, they began to walk towards the spiky haired boys.

"You're pretty skilled Sora," complimented Tsubaki.

Sora laughed a little embarrassed. "Thanks, I've got to say that when you transformed into different weapons I took me by surprise."

"That's Tsubaki! A big warrior like me needs an awesome partner like her!" Black*Star shouted while laughing.

"She's an amazing partner, don't let her out of your sight," Sora said grinning. Tsubaki blushed slightly at his compliment. As they talked, the others, who watched the duel, arrived.

"It was a good fight. Congratulations you two," said Stein.

"Are you okay Black*Star?" asked Soul to his friend.

"Of course!" said a cheered Black*Star. "This was a nice training."

"_Training?_" Sora thought raising his eyebrow.

"You got your butt kicked. Don't deny it," Maka said.

"Maybe, but the next time won't be the same," Black*Star said. "I'll make sure that the next time we have a duel, I'll be the winner."

"I'm looking forward to it," Sora said smiling.

Black*Star returned the smile and Sora and he fist-bumped. It looks like Sora made new friends and he wasn't going to regret it.


	6. Shibusen's Heartless Missions

_**Shibusen's Heartless Missions**_

_****__**Death City**_

Apart from Sora's fight with Black*Star, nothing else happened the rest of the day. That night, Sora decided to walk around, to see the part of the city he hasn't visited yet and to keep an eye just in case some Heartless attack.

"It looks quite peaceful tonight," said Sora. "It's getting late so I should go to my apartment."

Suddenly several Soldier and Armored Knight Heartless appeared, and then they surrounded Sora.

"I've got to learn to shut up…" muttered the Keybearer as he drew his blade. The Heartless jumped to get Sora from above, but Sora did a dodge roll in time and launched his Keyblade to the Heartless and destroyed them, however more of them appeared.

He kept killing Heartless, but when he destroyed one, another took its place. The fight was taking too long and Sora was getting tired.

"_This is getting nowhere; I'll have to finish all of them at the same time,_" he thought. "_Maybe some magic could work._"

Sora took distance with the Heartless and pointed his Keyblade to the sky. "Thunder!" he shouted.

Suddenly blue thunders fell from the sky hitting half of the heartless, and then the thunders moved to the same spot causing a great explosion that destroyed the other ones. The explosion was big, Sora didn't expect that, so his spell sent him flying backwards and he landed in some boxes and rubbish bags.

"That's new…maybe that training was more effective than I expected," he said while trying to get out of the trash. He looked at his surroundings to see if the explosion damaged the city, thankfully all was intact but he made a lot of noise.

He stood up and wiped the dust from his clothes. "_I should leave," he thought. __"Hopefully no one saw the spell_"

* * *

The next day, Sora was heading to Shibusen. Something was troubling his mind. "_Why, now that I'm here, do they attack just in the night…_" thought Sora while climbing the stairs to the academy.

"Hey Sora!" said someone interrupting the Keybearer from his thoughts, it was Maka and Soul.

"Hello Maka, Soul," said Sora to his new friends.

"What's up man?" greeted Soul while high-fiving Sora. "Hey, you look tired, some Heartless hunting last night?"

Sora yawned. "That's right."

As they entered the academy, Sora noticed that some students were looking at him and whispering. Maka and Soul noticed this too.

"You sure got popular fast," said Maka smiling at Sora.

"And how is that?" asked a puzzled Sora.

"Well," Soul began, "being the newest student and defeating Black*Star is something that doesn't happen every day."

Sora sighed; he thought that maybe he's meddling too much, but it was inevitable with his friendly and competitive nature.

"Anyway, what are you guys going to do today?" asked Sora.

"I was going to take a look at the Mission Board," said Maka.

"Mission Board?" asked Sora but then he realized what she was talking about. "Oh, is that board next to the receptionist lady."

"Yeah," answered Soul, "here in Shibusen, we do missions in order to get Kishin Eggs."

Before Sora could ask, Maka started to explain him what the Kishin egg is.

"They are souls of people who are close to become a Kishin or Demon. When someone eats a human soul, their soul starts to become a Kishin Egg. The more souls they eat, the closer they are to become a Kishin," explained her, and then Soul continued.

"But if a person with weapon blood eats a Kishin egg, he or she obtains more power. With ninety-nine Kishin eggs and a Witch's soul I could become a Death Scythe," he said with determination.

"Oh yeah, Kid told me yesterday, that one of the objective of some meisters were to create a Death Scythe to his father," commented Sora. "I take that you're a weapon then, right Soul?"

"Yup, I can transform into a scythe, and Maka is my meister," the boy said.

As they talked, they reached the Mission Board, and they found something strange in it, at least it was strange for Soul and Maka.

"Hey look," began Maka, "they divided a little part of the board."

"Maybe they're going to put a special mission or something," said Soul.

Sora kept looking at the big board. There were lots of missions to do, and they were classified by their difficulty from one to three stars, also part of the missions had a paper on them that said "Taken".

As Sora was taking a look at the missions, he noticed that someone was staring at him really close. It was a boy with a peculiar hairstyle and thick glasses which are fitted with side shields. Sora was starting to feel a little awkward.

"Ummm, can I help you?" asked Sora to the boy.

"I've never seen you here so you must be the new guy everyone is talking about, Sora if I'm not mistaken," said the boy while adjusting his glasses.

"Uh, yeah, that's me," said the Keybearer.

"I'm Ox Ford," said the boy with glasses. "I've got to say that you made yourself some reputation here."

Then another boy came from behind Ox, he had brown hair tied up in a spiky ponytail and a red visor covering his eyes.

"Hey Ox, who are you talking to?" he said with a serious tone.

"Ah, there you are Harvar," said Ox. "I'm talking to the guy who's in everyone lips in Shibusen lately."

"So this is the one who defeated Black*Star," said Harvar coldly. "I expected someone who looked more…intimidating."

Harvar's comment bothered Sora a little, but he brushed that aside. Soul heard them so he decided to take part of the chat.

"Watch your words Harvar," said Soul leaning his arm on Sora's shoulder. "This guy could kick your asses without even trying."

"You're giving me too much credit Soul," said Sora smiling at him. Then Maka joined the group too.

"Ox, when did you arrive from your mission?" asked her.

"We arrived yesterday at night, Maka," he answered. "I've got to say that we did a magnificent work. It was nothing that the Lightning King couldn't do."

"Then tell me, did you fight someone when you arrived?" asked Maka.

"No, we didn't, why do you ask?" asked Ox a little confused.

"Because Soul and I saw last night some huge lightning bolts from our apartment, and we thought that it could be you," the Scythe Meister explained. Sora gulped at hearing her.

"I didn't fight anyone yesterday, sorry," said Ox. Soul then looked at the Keybearer.

"Hey, Sora," he began, "you were dealing with the Heartless yesterday, right? Did you see something?"

"Well…" Sora was trying to come up with something but then someone came and interrupted their talking.

"Excuse me, are you Sora?" said the person addressing the Keyblade wielder. Sora looked at him; it was a tall, muscular man who had a blue tone in his skin.

"Yeah, why'd you ask?" said Sora.

"My name is Sid Barett, I'm a professor of Shibusen," the man answered. "Shinigami-sama sent me because he wanted me to explain you about that small section of the Mission Board."

The others were curious about that part of the board, so they listened to Sid too.

"Look," began Sid, "we've getting information about Heartless roaming other places." At hearing this, Sora's face turned serious. "Shinigami-sama thinks that it could be good to go to investigate, so he divided that section of the Mission Board for you." Sid explained. "When you have time, we'd like you to take a mission of there."

Sora looked concerned at the Mission Board, he thought that if heartless, were starting to appear in other places apart from the city, then his mission would take a little longer, but being who he is, he didn't mind. Besides, he was starting to think that maybe the Heartless weren't the only threat.

"Understood, "answered Sora, "and thanks for the clear explanation Professor Sid."

"No problem," said Sid, "I always like to make things clear, that's the kind of man I was. Oh and one more thing…"

"What is it?" asked Sora.

"Shinigami-sama said that if you want, you could take other students with you. Sometimes is better to have someone watching your back." he said, and then left waving his hand to the students.

As he left someone called the group from behind.

"Hey guys!" the person shouted. It was Black*Star followed by Tsubaki.

"Good morning everyone," said Tsubaki kindly. "What are you doing?"

"Professor Sid just explained us about that separated portion of the Mission Board," she said and then Black*Star and Tsubaki looked at the board.

"Oh yeah, what is it?" asked the girl.

"It looks like our pal Sora is going to have his own custom missions in that section," said Soul smiling at the Keybearer. "And he's allowed to take other students with him."

"WHAT?!" shouted Black*Star startling the others, then he looked at Sora. "I'll go with you then! With a Big Star like me at your side you won't have to worry about anything!"

"That's not up to you, Black*Star," Soul said, and then Ox spoke.

"Besides," he began, "I'm pretty sure that the Keyblade wielder will need someone more intelligent and logical at his side."

Black*Star got pissed at his comment. "What are you saying, Ox?! Do you want to die?!" shouted the ninja while Tsubaki tried to calm him.

"As much as I would like to fight with you now, I can't." said Ox. "I must go find my dear Kim and declare my love for her!" His face brightened with glee when he said that.

"Oh, sorry Ox, Kim didn't come back yet of his mission with Kilik," said Tsubaki when she heard Ox.

"No problem, I can wait for her. I'd wait forever!" he said, and then he left being followed by Harvar.

During this the only thing Sora did was to stare at the missions, also he was still thinking about why the Heartless didn't attack him frequently like always. There was a possibility that the Heartless were being controlled by someone, but he didn't even want to think about that someone. He was lost in his thoughts when suddenly Maka called him.

"Sora, you look worried, is everything okay?" she said.

"Uh, yeah, it's nothing Maka, don't worry," said Sora, but Maka was still concerned about what was troubling him so she decided to do something.

"Hey Sora, could Soul and I go with you in a mission?" asked her.

"I like the sound of that," Soul said smirking.

Then Black*Star stepped in. "Hey that's not fair guys, I said it first!"

"Yeah, but you fought with him yesterday," said Soul.

"And he went with Kid to watch over the city his first night here," added Maka. "So now it's our turn."

Sora raised an eyebrow and looked at them. "Hey, what do you think I am? A pet?" he said and made everyone laugh.

Maka stopped laughing and looked at the Keybearer. "So, what do you say, Sora?"

The Keybearer crossed his arms and thought about the offer. "Well, I don't see a reason for not letting you come and I'm curious to see your fighting style too," he said grinning and Soul and Maka did too.

Soul looked at the board. "Choose the mission, then. They're for you after all."

"Ok, let's see…" said Sora taking a look at his missions.

There wasn't much to choose, but one mission caught the Keybearer's attention. Sora took the paper, it said that some people have seen some strange things in a forest; one person assures that he saw a giant chameleon. Soul and Maka glanced at the mission information and both of them looked puzzled.

"Giant…" began Soul.

"…chameleon?" finished Maka.

Sora let out a little laugh. "It's a type of Heartless, or it should be…that's why we're going to go there, to find out."

* * *

**And here's chapter 6. This was a little introduction to the other characters of Soul Eater, and a mention to the ones who will appear in later chapters.**


	7. The Mission in the Forest

_**The Mission in the Forest**_

Sora, Maka and Soul were traveling to the nearest town where some people states that they saw strange things in the near forest. Since the three of them wouldn't fit on Soul's bike, they decided to use the train. Soul and his meister were explaining to Sora about how works the use of Demon Weapons.

"So if the souls' wavelengths of the meister and the weapon aren't compatible, they can't make a team?" asked Sora

"Yeah, but even if they are compatible they have to match their wavelengths, their souls have to be in harmony," explained Maka. "That's why the people who watched your battle against Black*Star found strange that you could grab Tsubaki in her shuriken form."

Sora scratched his head. "Well, I didn't do anything special," he said. "I just grabbed her without thinking."

"You must have some kind of super soul or something," Soul said smirking. "Hey, tell us something about the Keyblade now."

Very few people were interested in the Keyblade, and this is the first time someone requested some explanation about the sword, so Sora thought about how to answer that question.

"Let's see, unlike demon weapons, Keyblades requires of heart's strength not soul's. Someone with a strong heart could be a wielder if a Keyblade choose him," said Sora. Maka interrupted him for a moment.

"People call you the Chosen One, but as far as I know there are more Keyblade wielders, what makes you different from them?" asked Maka.

Sora put his hand on his chin. "To be honest, I have no idea," he said with a goofy grin which made Soul and Maka sweat-drop.

"And what is the Keyblade capable of?" asked Soul. "The only thing we know is that it's really useful against the Heartless."

"Its main power is the ability to seal or open the barriers between worlds, as well as to "lock" a world's Keyhole, preventing the Heartless from attacking that world's heart," explained Sora. "However the attack to your city is different, since it's just a part from a much bigger world, your city doesn't have a Keyhole, so I must eliminate the Heartless until they leave."

Soul and Maka were speechless at the explanation. That's the first time they heard about the worlds' heart so it was a normal reaction.

"Also Keyblades can change their appearance too and be more powerful," he said. "When you change the Keyblade's keychain, the sword changes and acquires new abilities."

Maka and Soul were listening at Sora like if he was telling a fantastic story and the spiky boy understand their interest.

"I can perform magic with the Keyblade too…" said Sora but then he remembered what happened the other night. By the look on her face, it looks like Maka realized something.

"It was you, right?" asked Maka with a mock serious face. "You were the one who made those lightning bolts and cause that racket."

Sora laughed nervously. "Yeah, sorry," he said apologetically and Soul chuckled at his reaction.

"Anything else?" asked Soul.

"Yeah, one last more thing," he answered, and then he drew his Keyblade which surprised Maka and her partner. He handed the Keyblade with the handgrip pointing at the Scythe Meister.

"Here, take it," said Sora with a smile.

"Wa-wait, are you sure?" she asked doubtful. She didn't expect that Sora said that.

Sora nodded at her with a smile. "Come on, don't worry, nothing bad will happen."

Maka grabbed the Keyblade a little nervous. She looked at the sword amazed; she could feel the power that lies within the sword and suddenly, while she was contemplating it, the Keyblade vanished from her hands which took her and Soul by surprise.

The Keyblade appeared in Sora's hand. "The Keyblade choose its wielder, so if another person takes it, it will come back to him," he explained.

"That's why Black*Star's disarming didn't worked very well," said Maka and Sora nodded. Then the train began to stop.

"Looks like we're arriving," said Sora.

The train stopped and the group went out. They walked a few steps and reached the town where they separated to ask some people about the forest. After half an hour, they met near a fountain in the center of the town.

"Any luck?" asked Sora. "The people just tell me what we already know."

"Same here," said Maka. "And you Soul?"

"A guy told me that the strange things only appear at night, just like Death City," answered Soul.

Maka sighed in resignation. "We'll have to wait until night then," she said. "We should eat something."

* * *

_**Shibusen**_

While the mission group was investigating, in Shibusen a hyperactive ninja was fighting all the students he could, even meisters that were older and more experienced than him. He beat them all with ease with Tsubaki's help. Now they were walking through the academy.

"Black*Star," said Tsubaki to get his meister's attention. "Today, you fought more people than usual, is there something bothering you?"

Black*Star stopped and putted his hands on his pockets. "I need to get stronger," he muttered, and then looked at Tsubaki. "Lately, I've been meeting people that I couldn't defeat. Kid, the samurai Mifune and that guy called Mosquito…"

"Are you upset with Sora?" asked Tsubaki concerned. She thought that after fighting Sora, Black*Star got even more depressed than before.

"No, of course not, he's a cool guy and Kid too, but I can't let them leave me behind," he answered, and then he put his fist on his chest. "A God of Death and the Keyblade Chosen One won't be enough to stop the Great Black*Star."

Tsubaki smiled relieved at seeing that Black*Star wasn't still depressed about his losing streak. After their talking, Kid, Liz and Patty approached them from behind.

"Hello Black*Star, Tsubaki," greeted Kid.

"We've seen all the students lying on the ground outside, you fought today a lot Black*Star," said Liz which made Black*Star smirk.

"Have you seen Sora, by any chance?" Kid asked to Black*Star and Tsubaki. "I wanted to ask him about the Heartless situation."

"He went on a mission with Soul and Maka," said Black*Star. "Those two stole my place. I wanted to kick some Heartless' butts."

"Oh yeah, the Heartless' Missions my father told me about," Kid said. "Well, I'll have to wait until he comes back."

The Shinigami was about to leave, but then Tsubaki called him.

"Listen Kid," she said, "maybe it's just me but…"

"What? It's something wrong?" asked Kid.

"Today I've seen Sora concerned about something," Tsubaki explained. "When Professor Sid told him about the Heartless' Missions he had a very serious face."

When Kid heard this he started to worry too. "It's possible that we're in more danger than expected?" wondered Kid.

* * *

Later that day, the mission team started to walk towards the forest. None of them were talking so Maka decided that it was the perfect time to ask Sora why he looked worried at Shibusen.

"I'm curious Sora," she said, "why did you pick up this mission over the others?"

"I wanted to check something," answered Sora. "I suppose that's why you wanted to come, right? To find out what was bothering me about the Heartless."

Maka gulped and laughed sheepishly. "So you noticed…"

Sora smiled sadly at her. "I appreciate your concern Maka, but you don't need to worry about me. I'm sure you guys have more problems apart from the Heartless."

"Come on man, now we're all friends, it's normal that we want to help you," said Soul and Maka nodded. Sora was happy to have friends like this.

"Okay you win," he said grinning at them, "but I'll tell you when we return to Shibusen, deal?"

"Deal!" they said.

After a few minutes, they arrived at the entrance of the forest. It was really dark, but they could see a little. All the people in the town were now sleeping, so it was very quiet.

"This place is giving me creeps," commented Soul, and then a branch breaking could be heard.

"What was that?" said Maka. Sora stopped and started to look around.

"It could be the Heartless, stay close," said Sora.

"Soul, transform," Maka said and Soul obeyed and transformed into his scythe form.

Now Maka and Sora were back to back looking at their surroundings. Then Soul said something.

"I wish your ability of Soul Perception could work with Heartless," he said.

"You can see other people's souls?" asked Sora amazed. "Wow, you're really something."

Maka blushed a little at his compliment. "Thanks, but it's not just me, Kid and Professor Stein can do it too."

Sora then had an idea. "Maybe it can be useful if I give it a little boost," he said and Maka looked at him puzzled.

"Boost?" she asked and then Sora put his hand on her shoulder.

"Try using your Soul Perception now," said the Keybearer.

Maka nodded and closed her eyes, and then she could feel that Sora was using his power to help her looking for the Heartless. After a minute she could see it, a heart, it was almost like looking at a soul, it even has its own wavelength.

"I can see it, it's approaching to us from the left," said Maka.

Sora drew his Keyblade and looked to the left. "Blizzaga!" he said and a blast of ice came from his sword that froze a tree but also hit the Heartless' tail making it appear. "Here is our giant chameleon, it looks I was right after all," said Sora. "A Lurk Lizard."

"Uh, Sora?" said Soul.

"Yeah?" asked Sora looking at the scythe.

"I think that reptile is not alone," answered Soul.

Sora looked behind to see that they were surrounded by lots of Heartless. There were Poison Plants, Soldiers and Neoshadows.

"Well, what do we do?" asked Soul.

"You're asking me?" said Maka nervously looking at their enemies.

"What do you think?" answered Sora. "It's time to fight. They have no chance against the three us."

Maka nodded and charged at the Heartless in front of her. She swung her weapon and cut three Heartless at once. The Soldiers tried to attack her but she could block each attack with the handgrip and the blade of the scythe moving the weapon with grace.

While Maka was fighting the normal Heartless, Sora was dealing with the big one. The Lurk Lizard launched his tongue and grabbed Sora's wrist, but he took chance and use the ice spell again, freezing the Heartless mouth.

The Keyblade wielder ran to the Heartless and hit it several times, then the Heartless recovered and tried to hit Sora with its tail, but he could jump and prepare the finishing move.

"_Ice Storm!"_ he shouted and then he wrapped himself in ice and dealt multiple hits with a somersault attack destroying the Heartless.

Meanwhile Maka was slashing all the Heartless that charged at her, but the more of them started to appear, the forest was full of them.

"Shit, there's no end of them," said Soul.

"With Sora here this should be easier," said Maka, "but they don't give up."

"Hey Sora, how are you doing?!" asked Soul to the Keybearer.

"I don't want to worry you but it seems that more guests arrived to the party," Sora said.

Maka then looked where Sora was. "What are you talking about?" she said but then realized what he meant. There were lots of Heartless, many more than they expected. Mainly there were more of those chameleons but also Heartless that looked like knight with dual blades.

Maka stepped back to where the Keyblade wielder was. "Any ideas?" asked her, and then Soul had one.

"Hey Maka, why don't we try the Soul Resonance?" he suggested.

"We already tried that, remember?" answered her, "it worked against a few Heartless, but now there too many of them."

"I'm not talking about a normal Soul Resonance." he clarified. "I'm talking about a Chain Resonance with Sora."

Sora was now curious about what he meant.

"But we haven't mastered that yet," Maka said as she killed a Heartless that jumped to her.

"Maybe, but his soul can match easily with everyone so it should work," Soul said.

"So, basically, we've to match our souls' wavelengths, right?" asked Sora.

"Yes, they must be in sync, it's complicated but with your kind of soul it could work," Maka said.

"Let's give it a try before the Heartless decide to attack," said Sora.

Maka and Sora closed their eyes and started to focus. They started to feel each other power, their breathing synchronized. Maka was surprised of how easy they could do the resonance, although it felt different. Suddenly the two of them had a golden aura on their bodies as well as their respective weapons.

Sora's Keyblade started to grow, and then it transformed into a huge scythe made of light. On the other hand, the blade of the scythe form of Soul increased its size and was also wrapped with a golden light.

Then Sora and Maka opened their eyes and prepared to attack.

"_Heartless Hunt!"_ cried Maka and Sora and she swung their weapons like if they were drawing a circle around them. Blasts of light were fired by their scythes wiping the whole forest of Heartless, although some trees were destroyed by the attack too.

The three of them were speechless, but after a moment Sora could let out a few words.

"Uh…was that supposed to happen?" asked him dumbfounded. Maka was still shocked, so Soul answered.

"Well, yeah, but we didn't expect the result to be that powerful," he said.

"I think I did it wrong," Sora commented. Maka snapped out of it and looked at him.

"What do you mean?" asked her.

"I think we didn't do a Soul Resonance." Sora answered. "It's possible that I synchronized my heart instead of my soul with yours, so…"

"So we did a Heart-Soul Resonance?!" asked Maka in disbelief and Sora nodded.

"That was awesome!" said Soul as he turned back to his human form. "It was like the Witch Hunt, but the difference of power was outstanding!"

"Witch Hunt?" asked Sora and Maka answered him.

"When I resonate my soul with Soul's we can perform a technique called Witch Hunt, it was like this, just less strong." she said.

"Oooh, so that's why you shouted "Heartless Hunt" before," Sora said smiling teasingly.

"I said it without thinking, besides it fits, right?" said Maka flustered waving her hands defensively which made Sora laugh.

"Yeah, I think so," he said.

"Black*Star is going to be jealous when we tell him what we did," Soul said smirking and made the other two laugh.

"It looks like we're done here. We should return to Death City," said Sora.


	8. The Confirmed Theory

_**The Confirmed Theory**_

After finishing their mission in the forest, Sora, Soul and Maka returned to Death City that night. Sora confirmed his theory about the Heartless invasion, so he decided to talk to Shinigami-sama about it the next morning. Also Maka wanted to ask the headmaster about the technique Sora and she performed in the mission. Now the three of them were walking to Shibusen.

"Maybe we should take you to a normal mission, since you take us to a Heartless one," said Soul to the Keyblade wielder.

"You're just saying that because you want to do the "Heartless Hunt" again, right Soul?" asked Sora grinning and Soul sweat-dropped.

"Is that obvious?" he asked.

"Actually I'd like to do it again too," Sora said. "That was something you don't want to do just once."

"I hope Shinigami-sama or Professor Stein know something about that resonance we did," commented Maka.

As they reached the courtyard of the academy, they started to hear some noise and see some people flying.

"…the hell?" said Sora dumbfounded.

"It must be Black*Star," said Soul very calm.

"Yeah, that moron is always picking fights with everyone," said Maka.

As they ended climbing the stairs, they saw Black*Star posing victoriously and laughing with Tsubaki at his side.

"You guys need to train for a hundred years to be able to hurt me!" shouted Black*Star while laughing.

"Relax man, it's only 9 a.m. and you're already fighting other students," said Soul, and then Black*Star and Tsubaki looked in their direction.

"Hey, you guys came back!" said the blue-haired ninja high-fiving Sora and Soul.

"Welcome back," said Tsubaki smiling. "How did the mission go?"

"We were going to the Death Room to tell Shinigami-sama about it," answered Maka.

"We'll go with you, let's go!" cheered Black*Star and started running.

"Black*Star wait!" said his partner following him.

"This guy has too much energy in the morning," commented Soul.

After greeting Black*Star and Tsubaki, they headed to the academy and passed the front gate. As they entered Shibusen, two girls came to greet Maka. One of them had short pink hair and the other long black hair, besides they wore the same outfit, a short, green skirt, a lighter-green sweater, and a green sailor-style collar tied like a necktie.

"Maka, hello!" greeted the pink haired girl.

"Kim, Jacqueline! When did you arrive?" said Maka as Kim and her hi-fived with both hands.

"Yesterday in the afternoon, the mission was really easy with Kilik's help," answered Jacqueline. Then the two girls noticed someone they didn't know next to Maka.

"Hey Maka," Kim began, "aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?"

"Oh right, Sora these are Kim and her partner Jacqueline," said Maka.

"Nice to meet you," said Sora as he waved his hand to them.

At hearing his name both girls were surprised.

"So this is the famous Sora," said Jacqueline.

"Famous?" asked him confused.

"We heard in the girl's residence that there was a new boy in Shibusen called Sora who wiped the floor with Black*Star his first day here," explained her.

"Yeah, all are crazy about you and now I see why." Kim said smiling flirtatiously at Sora which made him blush slightly.

Soul grinned and elbowed Sora. "Popular with the ladies, uh?" he said teasingly.

"Shut it, Soul," said Sora.

Suddenly someone was walking towards the group. There were Harvar and Ox and the last had a very happy face.

"Kim, my fair lady, I'm so glad you are here!" he said and Kim rolled her eyes.

"What are you doing here Ox?" she asked. "You should be working and earing money."

"Yeah, but I really wanted to see you. You aren't hurt, right?" said Ox, and then he noticed the others. "Oh, you guys are back. How did it go?"

"Pretty good I've got to say." answered Soul smirking. "The Heartless didn't stand a chance against us."

"We were going to the Death Room to report back to Shinigami-sama," said Maka.

"I think I saw Black*Star and Kilik going there," Ox said. "Did you discover something new about the Heartless, Sora?"

"I've got a theory, but it would be better to tell everyone about it at the same time. If you want to know come with us to the Death Room," said the Keybearer.

"We'll accept the offer," Ox said. "Are you coming too, dear Kim?"

"Yeah, don't sweat it Ox," said the Lamp Meister.

They headed to the Death Room and after a minute they reached the door that led to it. Black*Star and Tsubaki were there along with three people, a boy and two little kids. The boy had black hair with dreadlocks and wore glasses. The kids were very similar to each other; both had blue eyes, rosy cheeks and mid-length blonde hair framing their faces. You could difference them for their hats.

"It was that big?!" asked Black*Star amazed.

"Yeah," said the other person, "that monster was huge but we could defeat it like if it was nothing."

"Man, I wish I could have been there…" answered the ninja, and then he spotted the group headed to Shinigami's room. "Hey, took you long enough."

"Relax before you have an attack, Black*Star," said Soul.

"Oh, everyone is here," Tsubaki said as she saw the whole group.

"Hey, you are the new guy, right?" said the boy who was talking to Black*Star looking at Sora.

"Yeah, the name's Sora," he said.

"I'm Kilik Lounge and these are Fire and Thunder," said him pointing to his partners.

"Nice to meet you guys," Sora said smiling at the kids who didn't talk but returned the smile.

"Let me congratulate you for beating up Black*Star," Kilik said and he and Sora did a fist-bump.

"Hey!" complained the ninja which made the others laugh.

"If you are going to talk to the boss, then I'll tag along," Kilik said. "I also want to hear about the Heartless that are disturbing the city."

After the conversation they crossed the door and walked under the "guillotines". When they reached the circular platform, they saw that Kid and his partners as well as Stein were there.

"Sora," Kid began, "I'm glad you're back we…wait, what are you guys doing here?"

"Maka and I are here for asking something to Shinigami-sama," answered Soul. "The others are just gossips."

"Hey, if you are going to talk about those black monsters, we'd like to hear it too," Kim said.

"I agree with Kim," Ox said adjusting his glasses, "the more we know, the better we can defend ourselves."

Shinigami-sama then spoke. "I understand your concern kids; you can stay if you want," he said, and suddenly Spirit jumped with joy towards Maka.

"Maka, Daddy is so happy to see-" he said but was interrupted by a chop in his head with Maka's book which cause the other people in the room to sweat-drop.

"Daddy?" said Sora.

"He's Maka's father," Tsubaki said. "Shinigami-sama's Death Scythe."

"He's a dirty old man," commented Soul.

"Now now everyone," Shinigami began, "I'd like to have a few words with Sora."

"Actually I wanted to talk to you too, Shinigami-sama," Sora said with a very serious face.

"Go ahead then," said the headmaster.

"First I'd like to ask something to all of you," added Sora. "All the Heartless you've fought, did a heart appear where you defeated them?"

Everyone looked confused but thought about it anyways. They shook their heads in response.

"Just as I thought…" muttered Sora with a hand on his mouth.

"Is it important?" asked Kid.

Sora nodded. "Look, at the present time there are known two types of Heartless: Pureblood and Emblem. Pureblood Heartless are natural Heartless, born from the darkness in people's hearts, upon their destruction, they simply disappear in puffs of darkness, without a heart leaving its body."

"Wait a moment," interrupted Ox as he was writing all Sora was saying in a notebook, "If those are the natural ones, then what the others are?"

"Emblem Heartless are originally created from machines that reproduce the process of a heart being consumed by darkness," said the Keyblade wielder. "You can differentiate from the others because they have a heart emblem in their body."

Everyone gasped and looked astonished at Sora.

"That's disgusting," said Kilik.

"That machine must be destroyed; we can't let it create more Heartless," exclaimed Harvar.

"It's already destroyed, a friend of mine did it," said Sora. "Their number has decreased, but it's still normal to encounter them, but as you told me, the only Heartless that you fought were Pureblood."

Stein then spoke. "So they started to appear when you arrived, right?"

"Yes, also I found strange that they only appeared at night when I arrived." Sora said.

"And how is that?" asked Spirit.

"Heartless act on instinct, the only thing they want are hearts to consume and create more of them, so it was normal that they attacked at night since it is when people here are more helpless," Sora explained.

"Yeah, that give us a little advantage to control their moves," said Kid.

"But when I arrived here they kept attacking just in the night," Sora said. "I'm a Keyblade wielder, I should be under constant attack since the Heartless fear the Keyblade and try to get the heart of the user."

"That is a lot to take…" said Soul.

"So the Emblem Heartless only attack you when you're alone, or at least when you are with few people," Kid said. "Do you know the reason?"

"…" Sora stood quiet without saying anything.

"Sora-kun?" said Tsubaki trying to call his attention.

"I know someone that can create the Emblem Heartless too," he said. "And that is also interested in me."

"Xehanort," said Shinigami-sama suddenly and Sora nodded.

"Yeah, him," the Keybearer affirmed. "After the incident in the forest I confirmed it. That bastard knows that I'm here and is sending Heartless just at me for some reason. It's like he wants to tell me something."

"Father," Kid began, "who is Xehanort?"

"He was a friend of mine time ago, before he turned to the darkness and tried to destroy the worlds. I thought I'd never hear about him again," answered him.

"He is a Keyblade wielder like me," said Sora. "Well, he is a Keyblade Master."

The students started to get nervous at hearing this.

"But you're the Chosen One, right?" Liz said a little scared. "You could beat him with ease."

"I…I don't even know what being the Chosen One means," said Sora. "The only thing I know is about the legend that says that the one chosen by the Keyblade can save the worlds or wrought chaos and destruction upon them."

The students looked at him concerned; they've never seen him like this and it didn't felt well. Although they know him for a few days or even minutes, they liked him and didn't want to see him crestfallen.

"But Sora, we know you wouldn't destroy the worlds, right guys?" said Jacqueline trying to cheer him up.

"Yeah, don't let a stupid legend bothers you buddy," said Black*Star. "You have to keep your head up, like me!"

"If you beat this overpowered idiot, then I'm sure you'll prevail," said Kilik jokingly.

"Hey! You want to fight, Kilik?! I'll kill you right here!" shouted Black*Star annoyed and everyone started to laugh.

Kid looked at Sora. "You have our trust Sora, don't forget it."

Sora looked at everyone at the room, they smiled at him. It was reassuring to have friends that trust in you and cheered you up in those moments.

"But what about the Heartless, I don't think they are going to leave voluntarily," said Spirit.

"Sora-kun will have to stay here until they learn their lesson," said Shinigami-sama and then looked at Soul and Maka. "I think you wanted to ask me something."

"Yes, it is about the mission," Maka said. "As Sora said, we were ambushed by a great amount of Heartless in the forest, so we tried a Chain Resonance with him to finish them up as fast as we could."

Stein them addressed the scythe meister. "A Chain Resonance…" he said.

"Yeah, Maka told him how to do it," Soul said and Sora continued.

"But I did it wrong and instead of resonating my soul with hers I did it with my heart," said Sora.

"Resonating a heart's wavelength with a soul's wavelength…" said Stein pensively. "I think I've heard about that somewhere."

"Oh yeah, it is a very special Chain Resonance," said Shinigami-sama. "Although it was very rare to see one, since the amount of Keybearers decreased significantly over the years. When I was young there were a lot of them."

"_How old is he?_" thought Sora surprised that he said "young".

"It was really shocking, Soul's scythe grew and started to glow in a bright light and Sora's Keyblade transformed into a light-made scythe," explained Maka.

"We destroyed hundreds of Heartless with just one blow," added Soul.

"Impressive," Kid said, and then Black*Star grabbed Maka's arms and started to shake her.

"Dammit Maka, you cheated, it was supposed that I was going to be the one going to the mission with Sora and do that awesome resonance!" he said as he shook her but stopped when Shinigami-sama gave him a chop in the head leaving him lying on the floor.

"As I was saying," said Shinigami-sama, "that resonance is very powerful and I'm surprised that you could do it on your first try, congratulations."

"Yeah, the Heartless will think it twice before messing with us," said Soul very confident.

Kim grabbed Sora's arm. "But the next time he's going to a mission, Jackie and I are going with him," she said, and then Black*Star got up really fast.

"No way Kim, it's my turn!" he shouted.

"Hey, don't burden him, he has the right to choose too," Kid said.

As the students argue about who will go with Sora in the next mission, the grown-ups were looking at them.

"He's a good kid, do you think he'll make it?" asked Stein.

"The worlds are in good hands, but Xehanort isn't someone you can defeat easily," answered Shinigami-sama. "We'll have to wait and see what happens."


	9. A Restful Day

_**A Restful Day**_

The day Sora returned from his mission with Soul and Maka was more peaceful than the others and Sora was glad of it. That night not even the Heartless attacked, which Sora found strange. He stayed in the streets although not even one Heartless appeared, so he decided to leave and have a good sleep.

The next day the Keyblade wielder woke up a little later than he did the last days in Death City since today there are no classes.

"Man, I so needed this." he said while stretching.

He got up and looked at a wardrobe that was in his room, he wondered if it has clothes, although he doubt it since he didn't bought anything here. He walked to the wardrobe and opened it.

"Wow, where did all this come from?" he asked surprised as he saw that there were lots of clothes. He tried some and fitted perfectly.

He left his apartment and decided to walk a little since he didn't have anything better to do. When he got out from the building he heard someone calling his name.

"Hey Sora!" said the person. It was Black*Star with Tsubaki at his side. He had a basketball in his hand and both of them were smiling at Sora which made him raise his eyebrow quizzically.

* * *

_**Soul and Maka's apartment**_

"Maka," said Soul, "Tsubaki called me, she said that they are going to the basketball court, want to come?"

Maka was reading a book at the moment so she answered without looking at him. "I would rather stay here and read."

"What are you reading this time?" he asked as he took a look at the cover. "Wait, this is the book that talks about Keyblade wielders?"

"Yes," answered Maka, "there's still things that I'd like to know about them, so you can go alone."

Soul sighed. "You know, you could ask Sora about these things, I'm sure he would explain it better than any book," he said. "Black*Star and Tsubaki went to his apartment so he'll probably come to play with us."

At hearing this Maka closed her book and got up. "Ok, I'll go with you." she said with a calm face and Soul sweat-dropped.

"_That was a quick change of mind,"_ he thought.

Maka and Soul walked to the basketball court to meet the others. When Tsubaki called the others to see if they wanted to play basketball she suggested calling Sora so he could relax and clear his mind and everyone agreed. As the Scythe Meister and her partner arrived they saw that everyone was already there, besides Stein and Spirit that were talking in a bench.

"About time, slowpokes!" shouted Black*Star throwing the ball to Soul.

"It's Maka's fault, she has been messing around," said Soul as he caught the ball.

"Shut up Soul," Maka said pouting.

"Anyway, Sora you know how to play, right?" asked Soul bouncing the basketball.

"Of course," answered the Keybearer smiling.

"Great, let's make the teams," said Soul smirking.

"It's good that you're here Liz, this way the teams will have the same number of members," said Tsubaki to looking at her.

"Well, it's good to do exercise once in a while," said Liz.

"Okay, the teams will be, Kid, Liz, Tsubaki and Black*Star versus Maka, Patty, Sora and me."

"That looks a little unbalanced…" muttered Maka.

"So we're doing the usual, right?" asked Black*Star grinning.

"Really, again?" said Kid.

"Yup, as always the captain of the team that loses had to be punished," answered Soul.

"I've a bad feeling about this…" muttered Sora.

"I'm the captain of my team of course." said Black*Star.

"And since Sora is our new signing, we'll name him our captain," said Soul pointing at the Keybearer.

"He-hey Soul, wait a moment, I-" said Sora when suddenly Patty put her cap on his head.

"Here Sora, take the captain's cap," she said happily.

Sora was completely astonished. "You guys tricked me…"

"Ok Sora, since I'm the captain I'll decide your punishment!" said Black*Star.

Sora looked at him. "Let me guess, you want me to take you to a mission if we lose." the Keybearer said as he adjusted the cap.

"That'll be great, but no," Black*Star said. "If my team wins, you'll give me your Keyblade."

Everyone was speechless at what the ninja just said.

"That's going too far," said Kid.

"I think that's asking a bit too much," said Liz.

"Black*Star, you can't make him to do that!" said Tsubaki.

Sora didn't say anything for a moment but then he looked at Soul and Maka and they started to laugh.

"Hey, what's so funny?!" asked Black*Star.

"Nothing, nothing," said Soul still laughing a bit.

"I accept, but if my team wins, you'll shave your head completely bald," said Sora grinning making the other team sweatdrop.

"He's comparing Black*Star's hair to his Keyblade…" muttered Kid.

"Then shall we start?" said Soul smiling.

"Let's play!" cheered Patty.

As they played the two men in the bench were still talking and watching the match between the teens.

"How are you?" asked Spirit. "About…well you know."

"Surprisingly fine," answered the doctor. "The madness hasn't been bothering me lately."

"That's good, but I still have to keep an eye on you," said the Death Scythe.

"Has the situation changed about our Kishin problem?" asked Stein.

"The Kishin's whereabouts are still unknown, as well as Medusa's. That witch is nowhere to be found with the body of that little girl…" said Spirit with frustration.

"Crona is also missing," added Stein.

"Yeah, Marie and Azusa are still looking for him," Spirit said. "I hope they succeed."

"How is your daughter?" Stein asked. "She and Crona were friends, she must be worried."

"I don't know, Maka barely talks to me…" said Spirit. "Although I've seen her very sad when she found out that Chrona escaped."

"Well, lately she has been more cheerful," commented Stein. "Maybe it's because of Sora."

"Yeah, that kid sure knows how to make people smile," said Spirit smiling slightly. "I'm glad that he and Maka get along, but if he tries something funny with her, I'll cut him in half."

Stein smiled a little at his commentary. "And what about Arachnophobia or Medusa?" asked him.

"Shinigami-sama thinks that they won't do anything for now because they don't want the Heartless interfering in their plan, but as soon as Sora is done, we'll have to prepare ourselves," answered Spirit.

"Then while he's here, I could ask him to lend me a hand with the class training," Stein said.

"That would a good idea," commented Spirit.

After twenty minutes, the match finished, with Black*Star team as the winners for two points. Black*Star was doing a dance of victory.

"Yahoooo, I'm the god of basketball!" shouted Black*Star.

Sora sighed. "Damn we were so close," he said. "I'd have liked to see a bald Black*Star."

Soul chuckled. "You're not the only one."

"Well, you won so I have to give you this," Sora said as he drew his Keyblade.

"Sora, you don't have to do it," Kid told him.

"Hey, you guys won fair and square, and the deal was giving him my Keyblade," said Sora and then he winked to them, but Black*Star didn't see it. "Here you go, Captain Black*Star."

Sora handed his Keyblade to the ninja who took it without doubting.

"Behold guys! Now I will be even stronger!" shouted Black*Star but suddenly the Keyblade vanished from his hand.

The Keyblade was now in Sora's hand, he shrugged and smiled innocently while Maka was giggling and Soul was trying not to laugh.

"Hey, no dirty tricks man!" said Black*Star.

Sora laughed. "Sorry, sorry, why don't you try again?" he said and gave the sword to Black*Star again but it came back to Sora again.

"What the hell…" said Black*Star, then Maka spoke.

"Sorry Black*Star, unless you are the person the Keyblade chose, you won't be able to wield it," she explained smiling.

"Thank god…I couldn't imagine Black*Star with a Keyblade," Kid said.

"Wait! If you had won, you'd have let me shave my head?!" asked Black*Star.

Sora laughed again. "Don't worry I'd have tell you that I was tricking you…I think," he said.

"Damn, I'd have liked to use a Keyblade," said Black*Star. "I'd have called it "The Big Star Keyblade"!"

"How original…" muttered Maka, then she remember something. "Hey, Sora, the Keyblades have already names, right?"

Sora looked at her surprised. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"She has a book that talks about Keyblade wielders, she reads it nonstop." answered Soul smirking at her.

Maka blushed a little "Shut up Soul, it's not like I read that book all the time."

"Yes, you-" Soul was saying before Maka threw a book to his face.

Sora laughed slightly. "You're right Maka; Keyblades have names so we can differentiate them. Mine is called Kingdom Key; there are other names like Oblivion."

"That name is a little depressing, don't you think?" said Liz.

"Maybe, but I'm not the one who decided the names." Sora said as he made the Keyblade disappear, and then he looked at Soul smiling. "You know, there's a Keyblade called like you."

"Really?!" exclaimed Soul amazed.

"Yeah, but it's not mine so I can't show you how it is," said Sora.

"Damn you Soul! I won't let you surpass me! I'll get a new Keyblade and name it like me before anyone!" shouted Black*Star pointing at Soul.

"Give me a break, it's not like I am that Keyblade," said Soul.

"And Sora!" said the ninja looking at the Keybearer. "You'll have to take Tsubaki and me with you in your next Heartless mission for tricking me!"

"It would have been easier if you had asked for that from the start," said Sora.

"That's Black*Star for you," said Maka. "He's always making things more difficult."

They continued playing more matches, changing the team's members each time. Sora couldn't believe that he was actually playing during his mission, always when he traveled he left the same day he visited a world, but now was different and he enjoyed it.

"Geez, I'm so tired," said Liz. "Today we played a lot."

"Hey, why don't we have lunch at Maka's house," said Black*Star.

"Hey! Don't decide that yourself!" exclaimed Maka. "Besides I thought you didn't like how I cook."

"It's better than nothing," said Black*Star. Maka was about to throw her book to Black*Star when Tsubaki spoke.

"I think is a good idea," Tsubaki said.

"Well, I don't mind but you'll have to give me time for preparing the meal," Maka said.

"Yay~ party, party!" cheered Patty.

"You'll come, right Sora?" said Soul looking at the spiky boy.

"Sure, I'll be there," Sora said while he put the cap in Patty's head.

Everyone left to their own house to prepare for lunch. Maka told them that in two hours everything should be ready, so they didn't need to hurry, also Soul gave Sora their address since he had never been there.

"Why did you name him captain?" asked Maka as she and Soul walked to their house.

"Well, we did the same to you, remember?" said Soul smiling.

"I know, I lost and I had to spend a Sunday with my dad," Maka said a little annoyed.

Soul didn't pay attention where he was walking for a moment and bumped into someone by accident. The person Soul walked was a bit taller than him and only wore a black coat with a hood on so you couldn't see the face.

"Oh, sorry," Soul apologized and the person looked at him, but didn't say anything and continued walking. Soul felt a little uneasy, but he shrugged it off as soon as Maka called him.

Later, all of them were eating at Soul and Maka's apartment. Sora sweat-dropped when he saw that Black*Star was gobbling up like a pig, even though he said that Maka's cooking wasn't very good. After some minutes, they finished the meal and Black*Star looked like if he was going to explode for eating too much.

"Man, I'm full," said Black*Star. "Like I said, it's no big deal, but at least you can eat as much as you want."

Maka looked annoyed at him. "Be more grateful, you jerk."

"I think it was really good, thanks for the food Maka," Sora said smiling at her.

"It's nothing really," Maka said bashfully.

"Hey Sora," said Black*Star, "since now I'll have to get my own Keyblade, could you tell me what I've to do in order to get one?"

"Sorry, but I don't know what makes Keyblades chose people," Sora answered. "Besides, don't you think that if people knew what they need to being chosen by a Keyblade, there would be many more of us?"

"That's right," said Kid, "remember that my father said that the number of Keybearers decreased significantly."

"Come on guys, let's not talk about that now, remember why we're doing this," Liz said.

"What do you mean?" asked Sora.

"We saw how sad and worried you looked yesterday in the Death Room, Sora," said Kid.

"So we decided to spend time with you, this way you could forget about your problems and try to relax a little," continued Tsubaki.

"Wow, that's a nice gesture from your part," said Sora.

Soul smirked at him. "You are part of our circle, so we have to take care of you."

"Although now you are the one taking care of us and the rest of the city destroying the Heartless," Liz said.

"Liz, now you're the one talking about the Heartless," said Patty and everyone started to laugh.

"Yo-you know what I mean…" Liz said a little embarrassed.

"Anyway, let's change the topic. "Sora, where are you from?"

"Destiny Islands, does it ring any bell?" Sora asked.

"Actually yes, I went there in a mission with Liz and Patty not long ago," Kid said and Sora was astonished. "It's a remote island in the Pacific Ocean, near Tokyo."

"Oh I remember that, there were two islands; it was really nice and peaceful," Liz said. "I wouldn't mind living there."

"So you're Japanese, like Maka, Tsubaki and me. That's cool," Black*Star said.

"And here I was, thinking that you were from another world," Soul said laughing slightly.

"How come we didn't see you there, Sora?" asked Kid. "We explored the whole island and talked with most of the people living."

Sora smiled sadly. "Let's say that I was attending some important business," he said looking at the shinigami.

Kid then looked a little sad too. "Oh right, sorry for bringing that up," he said regretfully.

"Don't be, it's good to remember home occasionally," Sora said.

"A guy like you should be bored in such a small place," Soul said.

"You nailed it Soul," Sora said to the white-haired boy. "A friend of mine called Riku wanted to leave the island to explore, he even wanted to go to other worlds. He ended up convincing me and another friend, called Kairi, to go with him."

"How were you planning to leave the island?" asked Maka interested in his story.

"We built a raft," Sora said, making the others look at him speechless and Patty laugh.

"That's really reckless," Kid said.

"You could have drowned!" said Maka.

"Yeah, now I know that that wasn't a very good idea," Sora said. "But we were young and we wanted to leave as soon as possible. I even challenged Riku to a race to decide the name of the raft."

"Oh, like the sailors that name their ships?" asked Tsubaki.

"Yeah, Riku wanted to name it "Highwind"," said Sora.

"It's a good name I've got to say," Soul said. "And how did you wanted to call it?"

"Excalibur," answered the Keybearer. When he said that Kid and Black*Star put a weird face, Patty laughed even more and the others sweat-dropped. Sora was confused at their reaction.

"What happen? Did I say something wrong?" asked him.

"You better don't ask," Soul said.

Kid regained his composure and looked at Sora. "Well, you're here so I take you and your friends didn't use the raft after all," he said.

"Nope, we couldn't, the night before leaving there was a storm," Sora said but he stopped since he didn't want to make them feel bad about bringing up the subject.

"There has to be more, c'mon tell us," Liz said.

"I don't think I should," said Sora looking at everyone in the room.

"Come on, don't leave us in suspense," Kid said.

Sora sighed knowing how they will react when they know what happened that night.

"Well, I took a boat to go to the island where we made the raft and when I reached the island I found out that the storm wasn't a normal one," Sora said while the others listened carefully and then his expression turned into a sadder one.

"It turns out that my island was being invaded by Heartless. I went looking for my friends but they ended up disappearing. That was the moment when the Keyblade chose me; however I couldn't save my home and was destroyed."

All in the people in the room were now downcast. They couldn't look at Sora because they felt guilty to have made him continue his story. Everything was quiet until Tsubaki decided to break the silence.

"We…we are sorry, Sora-kun," she said. "It must be difficult for you to remember these things."

"Damn, we try to cheer you up, and we depress you even more," Soul said.

"I'm not depressed or anything," said the Keybearer, and then everyone looked puzzled at him. "After being chosen by the Keyblade I traveled to many worlds, one of the things I wanted the most, I found my friends and I could restore my home and save other worlds from being destroyed. All of this gave me experience and I could become the person I'm now."

"Unbelievable," Kid said, "most of the people would have given up, but you didn't."

"Someone has to take care of the worlds, right?" Sora said smiling.

"If you ever want to take a break, don't doubt telling me," Black*Star said. "A big star like me could watch over the worlds for you."

"Please don't do it Sora, anyone but Black*Star," Maka said making Sora laugh, and then a cat with a witch's hat and a curly tail walked near the table where they ate.

"Oooh, everyone is here," the cat said sleepy and then it noticed Sora and looked at him with glee.

Suddenly the cat transformed into a woman with violet hair and a witch outfit. She jumped into Sora's lap and hugged him putting his head on her breasts which cause Sora to blush a lot.

"Who is this cutie? Did you come to play with Blair?" said her.

"Someone help!" Sora said. The others were sweat-dropping while Maka was a little upset at Blair behavior and Soul looked relieved.

"Better him than me…" Soul muttered.


	10. Another Patrol and Training Class

_**Another Patrol and Training Class**_

It was already night in Death City and Sora was on a roof watching the streets remembering the good time he had in the morning, he was very relaxed after playing basketball and eating in Soul and Maka's apartment, although he would have preferred that Blair didn't assault him like that. Maka told Sora how they met Blair, and he tried to not laugh at them when he heard about Soul eating a cat's soul. All of them decided to tell him about what happened before the Heartless appeared since Sora told them about his problems with that man called Xehanort.

"_A Demon God…_" Sora thought while he walked on the roof. "_That sounds like a big problem, but I can't interfere with it, even if I want to._"

He jumped to another roof in front of him while looking below him to see if there were some Heartless prowling around. The city looked peaceful, but the Keybearer knew that it was probable that the Heartless attacked since the last night nothing happened.

Sora jumped to a higher building and when he was in the air he saw from the corner of his eye what it looked to be someone in an Organization XIII coat. The Keybearer almost hit the building's wall because of what he saw, but he could grab the roof's ledge and climb up.

Sora drew his Keyblade and looked at his surroundings, but the figure wasn't there. "_What the hell? I could swear I saw one of them._" he thought as he looked on the other roofs. "_Or maybe I am imagining things..._"

He kept watching in all directions, but after a minute he gave up and made his sword disappear. Sora sighed and sat in a ledge. "I've got relax or I'll go crazy one of these days." he muttered. He remain seated a couple of minutes and when he was going to stand up he saw someone walking on the street, it was Maka's father, he was walking to the night club Sora saw the night Kid, Liz, Patty and he patrolled the city.

"I wonder what he is going to do there," Sora said. "Well, it's not my business, but I should stay around here just in case."

Spirit was walking toward his favorite club after escorting Stein to his house.

"_Stein's giving me more problems than when we were kids," _he thought. "_And on top of that, Shinigami-sama has called BJ to investigate._"

The red-haired man sighed, although he was worried about the city too. He wished that all of the problems the city was having were solved as soon as possible. Then he had a goofy smile on his face. "_Well, at least I'm going to spend this night with the girls at Chupa Cabra's._"

He arrived to the entrance of the club and suddenly two young women opened the door and greeted the Death Scythe.

"Good night, Mr. Death Scythe," said one of them happily. She had light brown hair and wore a yellow dress.

"We're happy to see you again," said the other. This one had brown hair too, but was darker and shorter and she wore a light blue dress.

"Hello Arisa, Risa," Spirit said with a happy voice and a goofy smile.

"We thought you were going to be busy these days," Arisa said cutely.

"Yeah, we heard that Shibusen has a few problems," said Risa. "Besides the number of costumers has decreased since those ugly monsters appeared."

"_I'm surprised to see that the local still opens knowing that the Heartless are around,_" Spirit thought. "_But I'm not complaining._"

"Well, Mr. Death Scythe," began Arisa, "why don't you come in? Let's have some fun."

"Okay~" he said still with a silly face, but then he heard a noise behind him. He turned and saw several Heartless looking at him and the girls, who looked frightened.

"Oh no, they are here!" Risa said scared. "What are we going to do?"

"Stay behind me!" Spirit said as he prepared himself for fight the Heartless.

The dark monsters where slowly approaching the three people in front of the door, Spirit didn't look away from them in any moment.

"_Damn, without a meister I don't think I would make it,_" Spirit thought. "_Where is Sora when you need…_"His thoughts were interrupted for a moment when suddenly all the Heartless around them were destroyed in a split of a second and Sora landed in front of them.

"_…him?_" finished Spirit as he saw the Keybearer who was now looking at him.

"In the nick of time, huh?" Sora said with a grin which made Spirit smile with relief.

"You bet," said the Death Scythe, however as he said that more Heartless appeared. "Shit, there they come again. Go inside ladies we'll take care of them!" Arisa and Risa obeyed and went into the local and closed the door.

Sora looked at Spirit worried. "Will you be fine without a meister?" asked him. "It must be difficult for a weapon to fight alone.

"It'll be complicated," Spirit said. "Without Shinigami-sama or Stein here I'm not going to be very useful, sorry."

Sora, while keeping his gaze on the Heartless, made his Keyblade disappear and offered his hand to Spirit, which made the man look at him confused.

"Let's team up," Sora said. "Transform."

Spirit now looked at him dumbfounded, but then he remembered that Stein told him about the fight Sora had with Black*Star and how he could grab Tsubaki without trying to match his soul wavelength with her.

"Oh yeah, I heard about how your soul is compatible with almost everyone," he said. "But do you know how to use a scythe?"

Sora smiled at him. "Surely I'm not as good as Maka or Shinigami-sama, but it will be enough to destroy these creeps," he said.

Spirit smirked and nodded. "Alright, let's finish this quickly," the Death Scythe said and he transformed and went to Sora's hand. The spiky boy grabbed the scythe with both hands and prepared for the upcoming attack.

The Heartless didn't doubt to attack them and so they did, but Sora was faster and swung the scythe like how he did in the forest. A Neoshadow tried to attack at high speed from Sora's left, but the Keybearer stuck the scythe on the floor and use the handgrip to spin around and dodge the attack and kick the Heartless immediately.

Sora ran to the Heartless and cut it in half. He continued slashing Heartless, although he found more difficult to fight using a big weapon, he managed to do it and after ten minutes, the area was clear.

Spirit turned back to normal. "Hey, not bad at all," he complimented. "And thanks again for the little rescue; I'm lucky you were around here when they appeared."

Sora scratched the back of his head. "Actually, I saw you walking and decided to follow you keeping the distance. I had the suspicion that you might be attacked."

The man looked surprised at the Keybearer. "Then I'm lucky you saw me, really, I don't know what could have happen to me and the girls if you hadn't showed up."

Sora grinned. "That's why I'm here, to increase the peace," he said, and then the two young women poked their heads through the cabaret's door.

"Everything okay out there?" asked Arisa quietly. "Are they gone?"

Spirit turned back and opened wide his arms. "Don't fear my ladies," Spirit said with a heroic voice. "All the monsters were defeated, now you're safe."

The two women ran and hugged Spirit who was grinning and laughing victoriously.

"You're amazing Mr. Death Scythe!" said both of them and then they looked at Sora and walked to the Keybearer to hug him.

"And thank you to you too, cutie," Risa said.

"You're really strong for being so young," Arisa said.

Sora's cheeks slightly flushed. He wasn't used to getting compliments, but he had to admit that it felt nice. "Yo-you're welcome misses," he said shyly.

"Well Sora, if you excuse us we're going inside the local," Spirit said and Sora could tell that he was eager to go inside. "You should return to your patrolling."

Sora nodded and before leaving he said goodbye to them. "_Using Demon Weapons is really cool; I wouldn't have minded study in Shibusen one or two years ago._"

* * *

_**Shibusen**_

All the students of the Class Crescent Moon were waiting for their teacher inside the classroom. There were all kind of conversations, some students talked about how many souls they have recollected up to now, others about how the Heartless' attack have decreased significantly.

Sora, however, was drowsy, he had his eyes closed and used a hand to hold his sleepy head. He couldn't sleep much because he was still thinking about what he saw the last night.

"_It could have been an illusion,"_ he thought. _"But I could swear that I've seen something on that roof."_

While Sora was lost in his thoughts and trying to not sleep and hit the desk with his face, his friends were having their own conversation.

"I heard that Professor Marie and Ms. Azusa are back," Ox said. "But unfortunately, they haven't found Crona, sorry Maka."

At hearing this, the Scythe Meister became sad. Crona was her friend and she was very worried about him and wanted to know why he escaped from Shibusen. Her partner at seeing her like this put his hand on her shoulder and tried to cheer her up.

"Hey, don't be sad, he'll appear eventually," Soul said.

Maka smiled at him. "Thanks Soul."

"Professor Stein is late…again," Kim said a little annoyed.

"Probably he's in the Death Room," Harvar said. "All the adults went there when they heard about Professor Marie and Ms. Azusa."

"I hope everything is going alright," Kid commented. "The only thing we don't need right now is more problems."

"Don't worry Kid, with me around here the city will be safe," Black*Star said with determination.

"God help us if Black*Star is the one protecting the city…" Kilik said jokingly who made some of the others laugh.

"Anyway, Professor Stein is taking his time," Ox said. "They must be talking about something really important."

"If I had known that he was going to be this late, I would have come later," Liz said while yawning. "I would have liked to sleep more."

Soul chuckled when she said that. "I think you're not the only one," he said and then he gestured with his head to the spiky boy who looked like he was trying hard not to fall sleep.

"He has been like that since we arrived," Tsubaki said. "I feel sorry for him."

"Maybe we should wake him up before he gets hurt," said Jacqueline and the moment she said that, the Keybearer fall asleep for a second and, unfortunately for him, it was enough for hitting the desk with his face.

"Too late…" said Soul.

Sora groaned and raised his head slowly while rubbing his forehead, the hit wasn't very hard but it completely waked him up. He opened his eyes and saw that the others were looking at him.

"Welcome back from the death," Kilik said jokingly and Sora couldn't help but smile.

"Very funny," he said. "You could have waked me up before…"

Then the class' door opened and the professor who everyone was waiting entered the room.

"Sorry for the delay," Stein said. "I had to talk with Professors Marie and Sid, so they could lend me their turn. We're going to have a training class today."

All the students began whispering at hearing what the professor said. It was strange to have these kinds of classes; the last one was about "Duel Arts" where he explained about the resonance between teams, but since that one, there weren't more.

"Why the hell do we need training?" Black*Star said annoyed. "I will crush all enemies we have without any effort."

Stein interrupted the ninja's complaining. "There will be enough time for that Black*Star. The class will be outside the academy, I'll wait you there." As he said that he started to leave the room, while the students stood up from their seats.

When the class reached the courtyard, they saw that there were more people apart from Stein. Sora recognized Maka's father and the man who told him about the Heartless' missions, but there were two women that he didn't see before.

"What are you four doing here?" asked Stein curious.

"Supervising," said one of the women Sora didn't know, she had black hair and wore a pair of simple framed glasses. "I have to be sure that they don't slack off and train hard enough."

"Besides, you took my turn and Sid's so you could at least let us see them," the other woman said. This one had long loose blonde hair and a remarkable eye patch on her left eye.

"And what's your excuse, Spirit?" Stein asked looking at his old partner while he rotated his screw.

"You know why I'm here," said the Death Scythe. "Besides I want to make sure you don't hurt my daughter."

The doctor's screw did a click sound. "Don't worry about that, I won't be the one who is going to fight them," he said which made the other adults look at him confused.

"By the way," Marie began, "where is the boy Shinigami-sama told us about before?"

"He's now one of the students of the Crescent Moon," Sid answered. "He's the boy who is between Maka and Tsubaki, the one with the spiked brown hair." Then Marie and Azusa looked at the students and found him. The black haired woman looked at him like Ox looked at Sora when they first met, however the Keybearer felt even more nervous with Azusa's stare.

"He's young, no much older than most of the students," Azusa commented. "Are you sure that he is helpful?"

Spirit let out a small chuckle. "Believe me, even if it doesn't look like it, he is really strong."

While they were talking, the class was talking about what kind of training could have prepared the doctor.

"Surely is about the Chain Resonance again, since we still have to improve it," Maka said. "I still remember the first class we tried to fight Doctor Stein…"

"Ox and you stand in my way that time," Black*Star said. "I could have fought him alone."

"We're stronger than before, any training that he had prepared won't be a problem," Kilik commented.

As they talked, Sora noticed that one of the women he didn't know was staring at him.

"Is it me or is she staring at me?" Sora said. "I feel uneasy for some reason."

Tsubaki heard him and decided to tell him who she was. "Oh, that's Ms. Azusa, don't worry about her, she may look very serious and analytical but is a good person."

"The other woman is Prof. Marie," Maka added. "She is very gentle and kind with everyone. Both of them are Death Scythes."

Sora was surprised when he heard that the two of them were Death Scythes like Maka's father. Then Stein walked to the students while the others went to the side so they didn't interrupt the training.

"Listen everyone," Stein began, "I suppose most of you have guessed that today the training is about Duel Arts again, which is right, but also I want you to get stronger. Your actual level is not enough if Arachnophobia makes a move or if we decide to do it, so I ask you to take this seriously."

All the class looked at Stein with serious faces; no one said anything but it was clear that they were determined to get stronger no matter what.

"Okay, then let's begin," Stein said. "I'll change the teams a little, so when I say your name please come here."

The professor said three names, Kilik Lunge, Death the Kid and Black*Star. The three of them stepped in front of the rest with their respective partners.

"Sora, could you please come here?" asked Stein. "I'll need you for this."

Sora was surprised but walked to where the doctor was anyway. The three students who were called as well as the rest were puzzled at what Stein said, it's not like Sora needed train in Chain Resonance since his soul matched almost every soul.

Stein looked at Sora, then at his students and smiled. "I'm a little tired lately, so instead of fighting me you will fight Sora, okay?"

All the students as well as the teachers were dumbfounded at what the doctor just said. Normally is a teacher the one who train the students, but it seems that Stein thought that it was a good idea.

"You are three of the stronger people in the class, so I expect good results," Stein said while adjusting his glasses.

"Alright, this is more like it!" Black*Star cheered and Tsubaki transformed.

"Let's see what the almighty Sora can do," Kilik said as his partners turned into two big metallic gloves.

"Liz, Patty, don't let your guard down, you know who we're dealing with," Kid said.

"Okay~" Patty said and then transformed.

"I've got a feel that this is going to end like when we fought Hiro and Excalibur..." Liz commented as she transformed as well.

The team resonated their souls in order to fight the Keybearer. Sora was a bit nervous, but thought that this will be a nice way for him to train too so he was okay with the doctor's plan. Then Stein started to walk where the other adults were, the rest of the class did the same to give the fighters space.

"Okay, start whenever you are ready, I'll be watching you," he said. "And remember, take this seriously, so don't hold back. That goes for you too Sora."

Sora looked at the professor and then at the three people stood in front of him. They were prepared for fighting for real so he was going to take the training serious, but he wasn't going to go all out, but he was going to make it look like it. He summoned Oblivion to his hand which made the people that didn't saw the Keyblade before stare at him in awe.

The Keybearer gripped his sword tightly, and stared at his three opponents with an intense and serious glare which startled them.

"Oh man, I don't like that look on his face," Liz.

"This is going to be intense! Here I go!" Black*Star said, and then he started to run towards the Keybearer. He was already using Tsubaki's Uncanny Sword Mode and reached Sora in a few seconds and clashed his sword with Sora's. To the ninja's surprise, Sora broke his defense easily and started to throw several blows which Black*Star could block, but it was making him retreat.

While Sora tried to hit Black*Star, Kid appeared in the air behind him and started to shoot, but unfortunately for him, Sora noticed and jumped behind Black*Star to use him as a human shield and it worked.

"_Shit! He realized I was behind,_" Kid thought. He didn't realize that Sora was already behind him, and when he noticed it was too late. The Keybearer hit Kid three times and sent him to the floor with a horizontal slash.

Kilik jumped to Sora as he hit Kid, he clashed his gloves and flew to the spiky boy at high speed and tried to hit him with the glove that had bolts in it. Sora launched his sword to the glove and parried it; he took this chance to retrieve the Keyblade and make Kilik land with a powerful blow.

Black*Star recovered from the shots and look up. "Tsubaki, Kusarigama mode," he said and she transformed, then her meister launched one of the scythes to Sora, but he grabbed it. Black*Star smiled since that's what he wanted him to do.

"Now come down here!" he said and pulled to make Sora land. The Keybearer tied the chain to his sword and launched it to the floor. The Keyblade stuck in the ground, Sora landed and then pulled the chain to make Black*Star come to his position.

Kid ran to help Black*Star and tried to kick Sora so he release the chain, however Sora dodged the kick and grabbed the Shinigami's leg and launched him to Black*Star and hit him.

Now Tsubaki was without a meister but Black*Star had an idea. "Tsubaki, Smoke Bomb Mode!" he said and then the area around Sora was covered with smoke and the girl took chance to return to her meister.

"Okay, my turn! Fire, Thunder, Soul Resonance!" Kilik said and then his right glove was covered by fire and the left one with thunderbolts, he then combined the two elements together creating a large blue form of energy and condensed it into a small.

"Aphex Twin!" he cried and launched the ball inside the smoke where Sora was and caused a large explosion.

After a few seconds, something shined in the smoke and suddenly a huge ball of fire came out from there at high speed and exploded near the three students which sent them rolling on the ground. They received a lot of damage from Sora's attacks, but they managed to stand up.

The smoke blew away and Sora was there without even a scratch facing the three students that he was fighting. All the people in the courtyard looked at Sora with shock.

"He's like a total different person," Soul said astonished.

"Not even the three of them fighting together could land a hit on him…" Harvar said looking at Sora with wide eyes. "I recall what I said about him the first time, he really looks threatening now."

Maka had a face between amazement and fear. "Is that…his soul?" wondered her looking at Sora. Through her eyes, she could see a really huge energy wave around Sora; it was even bigger than Stein's.

"No…it's his heart," Maka exclaimed and the others heard her.

"Since when you can see a heart's wavelength?" asked Stein surprised.

Soul then remembered something. "Wait, you did that when we were with Sora in the Heartless' mission," he said. "But it was because he was using his power on you."

"That's remarkable," Ox said. "I didn't hear or read about it any meister using that ability."

"That's because it's something only Keyblade wielders can use," Stein said leaving the other speechless.

"Bu-but then, why can I use it?" Maka asked still not believing that she could do that.

"Maybe it is because you did a soul resonance with him," the doctor answered. "If I am not mistaken you and Soul did a Chain Resonance with him, so you could have acquired that ability from that."

"Is his heart' wavelength that impressive?" asked Jacqueline. "I mean, you looked a little scared when you were looking at him."

"Yeah, I didn't expect to see that so I was a little surprised, but his wavelength is amazing," Maka answered. "I can feel how powerful he is from here."

Then Kim looked worried about something. "Wait a second; didn't Sora say that Heartless feared the Keyblade and that they try to steal the wielder's heart?"

Ox looked at her with admiration. "That's right, you are so intelligent my angel," he said and the other sweat-dropped at him.

Kim continued what she was trying to say. "Then if he is now fighting and releasing a great amount of power…shouldn't that attract the Heartless?"

As they talked, the people who were fighting were having their own talking.

"No wonder he won you, Black*Star," Kilik said. "This guy is a beast."

"Man, I am so enjoying this fight," Black*Star said. "After this training, I'll be stronger than ever."

"We didn't even touch him, now I know why my father said that his skill was above others Keyblade wielders," Kid commented.

"I'm glad that he's our friend," Liz said. "I wouldn't like to be his enemy."

"Are you ready for another round?" Sora said to them smiling, but then he sensed something under him. It was a huge circle made of darkness. Sora could jump away before it swallowed him. The others saw the blot of darkness with wide eyes.

"I think your guess was right Kim," Stein said. "I didn't expect a Heartless to show up."

The hole of darkness grew and then an enormous Heartless came out from it. Sora recognized the monster; it was the one who appeared before his home was destroyed, but this one was bigger and had was red colored.

"Sora, what should we do?!" asked Kid. "We've never seen this kind of Heartless."

"You three are hurt and tired; let me take care of it, okay?" Sora said to them.

Black*Star sighed and smiled. "Okay, I'll let you to be the star today, but don't get used to it," he said making Sora grin.

"Kick his ass and come back in one piece," the Pot Meister said. The three meisters who fought Sora walked to the class and left the Keybearer alone with the Heartless.

Marie looked at the monster with fear. "That thing is going to kill him, we've to do something!" she said but then Spirit put his arm in front of her and she didn't move.

"Don't worry about him. He knows what he has to do," the red-haired man said to her.

Sora was looking at the Heartless with a calmed face. "It looks like he is making a move," he said." Okay, let's get this over with."


	11. Heartless' Diurnal Attack

_**Heartless' Diurnal Attack**_

A giant Heartless just appeared at the entrance of Shibusen, during the training class. As Kim deduced, when Sora use much power he attracts the Heartless even more. The Heartless looked bigger more powerful than a normal Dark Follower and was big enough to cause serious damage to the academy so Sora has to make the Heartless focus on him.

The Dark Follower was going to punch the building to makes debris fall and hurt the people covered, but Sora jumped before the fist could reach the structure and hit the hand away. He had to use a lot of force to block the attack, but he still had a lot of energy since he wasn't going all out when he fought with Kilik, Kid and Black*Star before.

"As long as I'm here, you won't touch Shibusen," Sora said. The Heartless growled and used its other hand to try and punch Sora out of the way. The Keybearer put his sword in a vertical position and with both hands, stopped the fist, however the Heartless kept pushing and Sora struggled to not move from his position.

The Heartless was strong, but Sora managed to push the claw back and make the Heartless flinch a little, but enough for Sora to attack. He used the Heartless' arm to reach the head and hit it with horizontal slashes making the monster stagger.

Sora landed on the ground and looked at the Heartless recovering from the hits and preparing other attack. The Dark Follower's claw was now covered with a dark aura and prepares itself for hitting the ground.

The Heartless stuck its claw in the ground and created a dark vortex where Neoshadows and Shadows started to appear.

"Great, like if the big one wasn't enough," Sora muttered and he started to destroy the recently summoned Heartless one by one without giving them the chance to attack.

As Sora fought all the Heartless that came from the vortex, all the people outside the academy were looking at him impressed.

"Now that I'm seeing this, I'm started to think that maybe he didn't even need our help in that forest," Soul said to Maka who nodded still looking at the battle.

"I told you that he was strong, didn't I?" Spirit said to Azusa.

"I've got to admit that you were right for once," she said.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" asked Spirit upset.

Sora defeated every Heartless that came from the hole the Dark Follower did, now he could end with the giant one. Sora ran to the Heartless and did a powerful upper slash making the Heartless stand up from the crouched position it was before. Sora jumped to hit the Heartless in its weak spot again, but the Dark Follower grabbed him really fast and now he was trapped.

"_Shit, that was fast_," he thought. "_I've to come up with something to break free_."

Sora struggled, but the Heartless tighten its claw more so the Keybearer couldn't move.

"Damn, this is going to be a bit difficult," Sora said, and then he thought of something. "_Maybe with my training I could try to use a Drive Form on my own or at least use another Keyblade like Roxas did, after all we should have the same abilities."_

The Keybearer concentrated trying to gather power for being able to summon another Keyblade. He remembered the memories Roxas showed him when he was trapped in his nightmare and how he fought him in the Station of Awakening.

After a minute, Sora managed to gather enough power and the Oathkeeper appeared in his mouth since his hands were trapped inside the Heartless' claw. He managed to obtain the Synch Blade ability without borrowing another wielder's Keyblade.

"_I did it! Perfect!_" Sora thought and turned his head to point the Keyblade at the Heartless' face and use a fire spell to burn the monster's face. The Dark Follower loosened its grip because of the pain and Sora could get out.

"Let's end this!" Sora cried, then he grabbed the Oathkeeper with his left hand and performed a long chain of hits, alternating slashes with the left and right. Sora used the Heartless' head to impulse him and retreat a little and then he prepared to use a special move.

"_Shadowbreaker!_" cried Sora and then he whirled forwards going through the Heartless with a dark spinning attack using Oblivion and then he whirled backwards with a light spinning attack using Oathkeeper.

The special attack was the one that finish the battle, the Dark Follower was destroyed and Sora landed, and knelt down immediately. The Synch Blade ability took more energy than expected or maybe it was because he forced himself to use a second Keyblade.

Suddenly he heard claps behind him, he turned back and saw the class clapping and cheering at him, even Marie and Spirit were doing it. Sora smiled at them a little nervous, he had never fought in front of so many people, but he was too focused in the Heartless to notice that before.

The Keybearer's friends and teacher walked to the boy to congratulate him for winning against that huge Heartless.

"You did a good job, Sora," Stein said.

Sora laughed slightly. "Quite a show, huh?" he said as he stood up.

"You used two Keyblades," said Patty amazed. "That was sooo cool!"

Kid looked at Sora with sparkles in his eyes. "You stopped the Heartless from destroying the perfect symmetry of the academy, I'm infinitely grateful."

Sora and the others sweat-dropped when he said that. _"That's the only thing you cared about?" _Sora thought.

"Are you okay?" asked Maka. "You look a bit tired."

Sora gave her a weary smile. "I'll be fine, don't worry. I've been through fights harder than this one."

"Ah, perfect. Since we have time, we'll continue with the class." Stein said and Sora could swear that he saw a wicked smile on the doctor face. "Volunteers?"

The class was reluctant of fighting Sora after seeing what is able to do when he is fighting serious, although Black*Star wanted another round, Stein didn't let him. The Keyblade wielder fought the next groups of students, although he held back because they looked a little scared and besides, he didn't want that another huge Heartless appeared again.

"It almost time, so the next team will be the last," the doctor said. "Kim, Ox and Maka, it's your turn now."

The three students walked to the fighting area with their respective partners. Sora stood there waiting for them, he already saw Soul's weapon form and now was curious about the other two.

"In an open space like this, the Lightning King is deathly, let's do this Harvar," Ox said and his partner transformed into a long spear. "Besides, we're fighting along my dear Kim, so we've to make a good impression."

Kim looked a little annoyed with Ox's comment. "Focus on Sora or you might lose before you know it. Let's go Jackie," she said and Jacqueline transformed into a black lantern.

"Are you ready Soul?" asked Maka.

"Yeah," he answered and then transformed, "I doubt we can win him, but this is just training so it doesn't matter."

"I know," the meister said, "he fought almost all the class and he still has energy for more."

"He looks slightly tired, maybe we can make it," Harvar said.

Then the three prepared for the fight and started to focus to perform a resonance between them.

"Chain Resonance!" they shouted and now they were prepared to battle. Maka ran to do the first attack; she jumped and swung the scythe, but Sora jumped above her and kicked her in the back with both legs making her lose her balance a little.

Sora landed and Ox near to him, the Spear Meister started to launch physical attacks with his weapon. The Keybearer block them all, and then Ox stepped back which Sora found strange but then he realized that Kim was going to attack him.

"Take this!" she said and then from the lantern a huge ball of fire came out, just like the one he used in the first fight. Sora grabbed the Keyblade like if it was a baseball bat and when the fire ball was near him, he hit the ball and sent it to Maka.

"Watch out Maka!" Soul said and the girl could dodge the fire attack in time. Maka recovered and dashed to Sora who did the same and quickly started to attack the Scythe Meister. He didn't stop launching powerful attacks to her, but Maka managed to block him.

Ox and Kim took chance to attack Sora while he was focusing on Maka, if close combat won't they have to try long range attacks.

"It's time for the Lightning King to shine!" Ox said, then he did and diagonal slash with the spear that sent an electric wave to Sora who narrowly dodge it. After Ox move, Kim used her lantern and formed a long flame that covered the area where Sora was. Maka could move away in time so the explosion of Kim's attack didn't hit her.

"Did it work?" Jacqueline asked.

"Maybe, I don't know," Kim said.

Suddenly a gust of wind cleared the smoke of the explosion, but Sora wasn't there, much to the team surprise. Three Keyblades made of light appeared from above each one hitting a different student. It looks like Sora jumped or teleported, to dodge the explosion.

"Damn, maybe we need to be more aggressive," Maka said. "Soul, let's do a Soul Resonance."

"Are you sure? He already knows how it is," he answered.

"If Ox and Kim can distract him for a second I might be able to hit him," she said and it looks like the other two got the idea because they nodded to her.

Kim started to throw fire attacks to Sora so he moved away from Maka, then Ox ran to the Keybearer and started to attack him several times to distract him from the Scythe Meister.

Soul and Maka could make a perfect resonance and create the Witch Hunt, meanwhile Ox kept attacking Sora and now the spiky boy was between Maka and Ox.

"Now! Lightning King!" cried Ox and his spear and Sora's sword collided, however when both weapons touched, the spear sent an electric blast of energy that hit Sora. He was still blocking Ox, but that attack made Sora's body to stiffen so he couldn't move.

"Witch Hunt!" shouted Maka, which surprised Sora. The girl was going to knock him out if he didn't do anything. If he stopped blocking Ox, he could receive another lightning attack, but if he doesn't stop the Witch Hunt he could lose the fight. So the only thing he could do was to use the ability he just learned.

Maka was about to hit Sora when suddenly the scythe stopped. Sora summoned another Keyblade to stop her attack, but she didn't give up and struggled to finish the move. Sora was now blocking Ox and Maka's attack.

"Kim now is your chance!" Ox shouted to the pink-haired girl and she charged another fire attack to hit Sora from the back, unfortunately for her, the Keyblade that was blocking Harvard's weapon form, had its tip pointing in her direction.

"Blizzaga," Sora said and the ice spell that came out from the Keyblade froze Jacqueline, making her unable to use another fire attack. Then he used a wind spell to send Ox flying away, now that he had one hand free, he used both Keyblades to block the Witch Hunt.

Maka was putting all her efforts to finish the attack, but against two Keyblades was going to be even more difficult. She tried her best, but Sora broke the Witch Hunt and sent her back with a double hit with both Keyblades. The three students were defeated and Stein doubted that they could keep fighting so he decided to stop the duel.

"Okay, that'll do for today," Stein said and told the students that were fighting to come where he was. "Today's results were much better than the first class of Duel Arts, I congratulate you all and thank you Sora for the help."

Sora smiled at the doctor. "No problem, I don't mind being the punching bag of the class," he joked making the class laugh. The professor dismissed the class and the adults left with him.

"He is really strong; no wonder why Shinigami-sama asked him for help," Marie said.

"It's a pity that he's a Keyblade wielder," Sid commented, "with a soul like his, he would have been a top student here."

"What surprises me, apart from the young Keybearer, is your daughter," Azusa said looking at Spirit who looked at her quizzically.

"What do you mean?" asked him.

"She has the ability of Heart Perception; she is able to detect the heart's wavelength," Azusa explained. "And as Doctor Stein said, that's something only Keyblade wielders can do."

"You don't think that now she is going to be chosen by a Keyblade, right?" asked Spirit worried about her daughter.

"I doubt it," Stein told him. "But if that happens, she has already someone that can teach her to use it pretty well, don't you think?"

Spirit started sweating, he didn't want her daughter to left Death City because a Keyblade, she hardly talked to him, so if she leaves she could forget about him.

Meanwhile the class was still outside; some of them were talking to Sora.

"Dude you're awesome," said a boy, "the way you defeated all those monsters on your own was incredible!"

"Also you could face most of the class without losing," praised a girl.

Sora scratched the back of his head. "It was nothing, besides I'm here for the Heartless, so it's normal that I can deal with them whenever they appear."

"Don't be so modest Sora; you were amazing," Liz said, "especially when you pulled out a second Keyblade."

"It's true, could you do that before?" asked Kid.

"Yeah, but not on my own," Sora answered. "I could use two if I took another person's Keyblade or if someone gave me some of his power, but this time is the first time I did it alone."

"Synch Blade is the name of the of the ability, right?" asked Ox and Sora nodded not very surprised, since Ox was someone that looked very intelligent so he must have been investigating about Keybearers.

"How do you know that?" asked a curious Maka.

Ox smiled and his glasses shone. "You're not the only one who is interested in the Keyblade wielders, Maka. I also made my own research about them," he said. "What surprises me is that you didn't know about it."

That comment annoyed Maka a little. "Don't try me, Ox."

Sora chuckled at the two meisters arguing, and then Jacqueline called his name.

"Ummm, Sora?" said her looking at him a little desperate. "Could you please undo this?"

Sora looked at her and noticed that her hands were wrapped in ice and she couldn't separate them.

"Oh sorry about that," he said smiling apologetically. "Give me your hands."

Jacqueline gave her froze hands to Sora who started breaking the spell; the girl blushed slightly because of the serious face Sora had while he melted the ice. Some of the girls around them noticed and felt jealous of her.

"Here you go, and sorry again," said Sora as he let go of her hands.

Jacqueline rubbed her hands to warm them. "It's okay, don't worry," she said still blushing. Kim noticed and nudged her partner in the side while smiling at her teasingly.

"It's partly my fault too," Kim said. "I should have been more focused, although I totally didn't expect you to use ice magic."

"I've got to admit that if I hadn't learned the Synch Blade ability before fighting you three, I would have lost," Sora said.

"Yeah, that huge Heartless appeared by surprise in the middle of the class," Liz said. "It was scary."

"What it was scary was Sora's face when he fought you three," Soul said pointing at Kid, Black*Star and Kilik.

"Huh? I was scary?" Sora said at Soul's statement.

"You put such a serious face and your gaze was really intense," Kid explained him. "If we didn't know you, we could have thought that you were going to kill us."

Sora laughed sheepishly. "_Maybe I shouldn't have put that face_," he thought._ "Well, at least they think that I wasn't holding back."_

"Hey Sora," Maka began, "when you were fighting with them, I could see your heart's wavelength. I thought I could only use it on the forest because you lent me some of your power."

"You still can use it?" asked Sora surprised and she nodded. "Well, I don't know the reason, maybe was because of the Chain Resonance we made."

"Prof. Stein also thought of that," Maka told him. "He also said that it was something only Keyblade wielders could do."

Sora looked at her and nodded. "That's right, I think just one or two of us can do it."

"Wait, do you mean that you…" Soul said trying to imply that Sora didn't possess that ability.

"Nope, I can't see other people hearts," Sora said without giving it much importance. "Maybe the Chain Resonance uses part of my power to improve the abilities of the other person doing the resonance."

"So if Kid does a Chain Resonance with you, he should get the same perception improvement," Ox deduced.

"It could be possible," Sora said. "It would be good that two of you have that ability, so you can detect the Emblem Heartless."

Black*Star then pointed at Maka. "Dammit Maka, you're stealing my spotlight!" he said. "First you go in a mission with him when it was my turn and on top of that you get a new special ability!"

"Hey, I didn't do it on purpose," Maka said defensively.

Then Black*Star looked at Sora. "Sora, let's do a Chain Resonance!"

"But Black*Star, you don't have the Soul Perception ability, that won't work." Tsubaki said trying to calm him down.

"Yeah, but maybe if we do it, you will get a Keyblade Mode," Black*Star said leaving the others stupefied, but Sora thought about it.

"That doesn't sound too crazy," Sora admitted and the others looked at him with a "you can't be serious" face.

* * *

**That's chapter eleven. Sora obtained a the Synch Blade ability in this one, I thought that since Roxas could use it, then Sora should be able to use two Keyblades too, besides he has Ventus' heart in him. In the next chapter Sora will go to another mission, but I don't know if it should be with Black*Star or with Kid. If you want, you can tell which one you prefer.**


	12. The Second Mission

_**The Second Mission**_

_****__**Shibusen**_

The life in Death City started to be "normal" again. A week ago, the Heartless appeared and it wasn't safe to walk in the streets in the night or alone, but after the Keyblade Chosen One arrival, this started to change. The streets were safer now that Sora patrolled every night, although there were days that the Heartless didn't even appear, when the residents of the city saw him walking around, they felt more secure. However, Sora was still nervous, because he knew that Xehanort was controlling his moves.

"How weird…the last time there were at least five missions for me," Sora said. He thought that it was time to go to another Heartless' Mission, but now there was none and he didn't know what to do now.

"Sora," said someone addressing the Keybearer. Sora turned to know who called him and saw Death the Kid with his two female partners behind him.

"Oh, hi Kid, Liz and Patty," greeted him and the Thompson Sisters returned the greeting. "How are you doing?"

"Fine, we were going to prepare to leave, my father has given us a mission a little far away from here," Kid told him. "What about you?"

"I was going to do the same thing," Sora replied. "But surprisingly, now there aren't any missions for me. I was thinking to bring Black*Star, but I think he'll have to wait."

Kid chuckled. "He can be pretty impatient sometimes."

"Hey, Kid," Liz began, "if Sora hasn't anything to do, why don't we take him with us?"

This surprised both Sora and Kid, but the last considered Liz's idea. "Well, Father didn't say anything about not letting Sora come with us."

"And besides, it would be good to have someone watching our backs, right?" Liz added.

"Yay, let's go the four together like Sora's first night here!" Patty said.

"Do you know that if I go with you, the Heartless will probably attack us, right?" Sora asked. He liked the idea of go in a mission with them, but he wanted to make sure that they knew the risks about it.

"After seeing yesterday of what you're capable of, I don't think that would be a problem," Kid commented.

"Alright, I have warned you," Sora said jokingly. "Now, let's leave before Black*Star finds me."

* * *

"That's one more soul to the list," Soul said satisfied with the success of his recent mission with his meister.

"If we keep up like this, you'll be a Death Scythe in no time," Maka said smiling at him. The two keep talking until they reached the Mission Board where they found Tsubaki and a depressed Black*Star.

"Hello Tsubaki, Black-"Maka said as she looked the blue-haired ninja with his head leaned in the wall.

"What's wrong with him?" Soul asked.

"Well, he was looking for Sora to go on a Heartless Mission with him," Tsubaki explained, "but it looks that there aren't any missions for Sora now."

Soul and Maka looked at the part of the Mission Board where the missions for the Keybearer were and it was empty.

"Tough luck," Soul said. "It looks like you'll have to wait."

"Wait for what?" asked someone. The other three main students of Class Crescent Moon approached the group near the Mission Board and they were followed by their respective partners.

"Black*Star is crestfallen because there aren't Heartless' Mission," Soul told him.

"So Sora can't take him to one of his missions, right?" Ox successfully concluded and Soul nodded.

"Talking about Sora, do you know where he is?" Kilik asked. "I wanted to ask him for a sparring match since yesterday that Heartless interrupted us."

The group shook their head, no one knew where he was, but then Kim remembered something. "Well, I heard in the cafeteria that Shinigami-sama sent Kid, Liz and Patty to a mission and that they asked Sora to go with them."

When she said that, Black*Star smashed his head with the wall, which made the others sweat-drop.

"Damn Kid, I know that he was behind all of this," Black*Star said. "He removed all the Heartless' Missions, so he could take Sora with him."

"Did you hit hard in the head?" Maka said. "Kid would never do something like that."

"I know, it was just a joke," Black*Star said with a really serious face that made the other students think that if he was really joking. "It just I really want to go with Sora in a mission."

"You sure are impatient, right Tsubaki?" Maka said looking at her friend.

"To be honest, I really want to accompany Sora in a mission too," Tsubaki admitted surprising the Scythe Meister. "I mean, you two looked like you had fun in that mission, so I wanted to give it a try."

"I wouldn't mind going either," Kim said although she looked more interested in Sora than in the mission.

"See, I'm not the only one," Black*Star said crossing his arms. "Besides, I'd like to go as soon as possible, since Sora will have to leave eventually."

The moment the ninja said that, it could be seen how the others started to get a little sad. It was true, Sora will have to leave as soon as he finished his duty here, but they didn't think about that before.

"Come on guys, cheer up," Jacqueline said. "Being sad won't help; besides he wouldn't like to see us like this, right?"

"You're right," Harvar told her, "that guy sure worries about the people in Death City, even if he doesn't even know them, maybe he's too selfless for his own good, but it's cool."

"You could say it's his nature," Soul said. "If you're someone who travels around the worlds, I wouldn't like you to be a jerk with everyone."

Tsubaki giggled. "It looks like we're all fond of Sora since he started living here," she said and the others couldn't help to laugh a little too.

"What can I say; he sure knows how to endear himself," Kilik said. "This is going to get a little boring when he leaves, but he can always come again after he finishes is duty as a Keyblade wielder."

"Then we'll have to support him and let him know that we're counting on him," Maka said and the other agreed.

* * *

Later that day, the mission group was arriving to their destination, it was already night and it was drizzling.

"I don't like this," Liz said, "where are we going Kid?"

"There's a mansion around here, and it is said that the people who goes into it disappear mysteriously," Kid answered as he continued walking. "We must find out what is causing that."

"Why does your father always give you the scariest missions?" Liz muttered.

"It's okay big sis," Patty said trying to calm her, "if something happens Sora will protect us."

The Keyblade wielder couldn't help but smile at what she said. It was nice to be treated like some kind of bodyguard, it was always better than be treated like if he was a danger to other worlds.

"You have me on a pedestal, you know?" Sora said.

"What do you expect?" Kid said, "You may be the first Keybearer to set foot in Shibusen, and besides, after seeing of what you're capable of, it's normal that some people admire you. Maybe even Black*Star sees you as someone who he wants to surpass."

"I think you got your own fan club in the academy," Liz said, now more relaxed after starting a conversation. Sora was surprised at what the older sister said, not every day he hears that he has a fan club, not that it bothered him of course. Kid then turned his head slightly to look at Sora.

"Sora, are the other Keyblade wielders as strong as you are?" he asked.

"Of course," Sora replied, "my friend Riku, the one who got the idea of traveling to other worlds, has a Keyblade too and he is stronger than me."

The three people walking next to the spiky boy looked at him with wide eyes for a moment, and then Liz decided to spoke.

"You're kidding, right?" she said and Sora shook his head.

"He's has passed the Mark of Mastery Exam after all," Sora said.

"What is that?" asked a curious Patty, "It's like the Super Written Exam that we did, Kid?"

"I doubt that our exam is the same as theirs," Kid answered. "As far as I know, the Mark of Mastery Exam is a test where Keyblade wielders prove that they have reached the level of a master, but I don't know more specific details."

"A Keyblade Master would be like a Three-star Meister for you," Sora explained.

Kid chuckled "I don't think that is a good comparison," he said. "You could probably defeat any Three-star Meister while being blindfolded."

They continued talking for twenty minutes until they reached a metal door, Kid opened it and the group entered in some kind of garden. There was a little fog, but it could be distinguished a huge mansion at the end of the path and it looked really gloomy.

"Oh my god, I'm not going in there!" Liz exclaimed.

"Yes, you are," Kid said, "unless you want to stay here alone."

Liz looked at her surroundings and realized that it wasn't a good idea to stay outside alone, so she had to give in and go inside with others despite being really scared. The mission team went to the front door and the shinigami opened it. A cold breeze hit their faces when the door was opened which gave chills to the older girl. The group entered the mansion, Kid was the first to go inside and Sora stayed in the back so Liz could be more relaxed knowing that she had her back covered.

"There could be traps in here, look sharp," Kid said.

Sora walked to a big door at his left, he tried to open it but it was locked up tight. Kid went to a smaller door located at the right of the entrance but it was locked too. The only way left was going upstairs. There was another way behind the stairs, but it was closed by a fence. They started climbing the stairs and suddenly the whole room shone for a moment and after that a thunder sounded.

"Dammit, dammit," Liz whined while grabbing her sister's shoulders. Sora felt sorry for Liz, it was clear that she didn't like scary places so it must be difficult to her.

At the upper level there was a big door, but it looked that it could be only opened by the other side, there were also two ways and they took the one to their left.

After opening what it could be the only open door in the hall, they walked through a corridor and reached a bedroom.

"Okay, I'm going to investigate a little, if you see something tell me," Kid said as he started to move things and open books.

Liz sat at the bed and let out a sigh. "All this scares can't be good for anyone. My hair will turn white if I keep getting into these missions."

"Do you usually go to missions like this?" Sora asked.

Liz nodded. "It seems that Kid's father likes to send us to this kind of missions, although there are some places that it wasn't scary at all."

"Yeah, remember when we went to check up on that train in the desert?" Patty said. "It was awesome; the only bad thing was the heat."

"And…well…your home was nice too," Liz added reluctantly, not wanting Sora to get sad about mentioning Destiny Islands.

Sora smiled. "It's a good place to go on vacation. Why did you have to go there? Did something bad happen?"

The Keybearer looked more serious when he asked about his home, but Kid turned and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, nothing happened. We went to investigate the islands because we heard that a girl disappeared suddenly."

Sora thought for a moment, he remembered that Kid said that they were in the islands not long ago, so maybe that could be when Kairi left to Yen Sid's tower for her training.

"The mayor was the one who reported the disappearance; he said that the girl was her adopted daughter," Kid continued.

That confirmed Sora suspicions, and it surprised him that Kairi's father called Shibusen to report her disappearance.

"We also found out that there were other people missing, two boys actually," Liz added. "What were their names again?"

"The girl's name was Kairi, and the boys were Riku and So-" Kid replied and he stopped when he was going to say the name of one of the boys and this made Sora smile widely.

"Wow, so we were looking for you?" Patty said.

Sora chuckled. "It looks like it, and I'm surprised that they actually called Shibusen to look for us. You talked with the residents of the main island, right?"

"Yes, all were really kind and answered all the questions. One girl started to flirt with Kid you know?" Liz said amusingly much to the shinigami annoyance.

"A girl that looked childish, upbeat, hyperactive and always looking to have some fun?" Sora asked like if he knew her. It was obvious that he was describing Selphie.

"That was surprisingly accurate, do you know her?" Liz asked and Sora nodded.

"Okay, enough chattering, let's keep going," Kid said.

"Did you find something?" Sora asked and Kid showed him a paper with some numbers in it.

"Looks like some kind of password. I'll keep it in case we need it," he said.

They exited the room and went to the hall again, but this time they the other way and they find that the floor was broken and that there was a door in the other side.

"It's the only place we haven't investigate, what are we going to do?" Liz said.

"I'll go; maybe I can find a way to open the other doors," Sora said volunteering to pass the door alone.

"Are you sure?" Kid asked and the Keybearer nodded. "Okay, but be careful, we'll wait you in the door at the lower level."

Sora jumped to the other side of the broken floor, reached the door and went inside while the other three went downstairs. Behind the door there was a dining room below, it had a large table and a hearth at the end of the room. Sora went down and looked for the door that he had to open to let the others enter.

"All clear," Sora said as he opened the door and found his friends on the other side. "There is a dining room over here, and another door at the left of the hearth."

The team crossed the door and the corridor led them to another corridor.

"Don't you think is strange that we haven't been attacked by someone or something yet?" Liz commented. "Not that I'm complaining."

The moment she said that, they started to hear music and it sounded like if someone was playing a piano. Liz grabbed her arms and started to mutter that she regretted saying what he said.

"Okay, I've got to admit that this is getting really sinister," Sora said looking a little nervous.

"Don't tell me that you're also scared," Kid said looking at the Keybearer.

"I'm not, but if we go upstairs and found a piano and no one playing it, then I'll be it," Sora answered. Kid chuckled and then started to climb the stairs and the other three followed him, he opened the door and like Sora said, there was a piano in the room, but no one playing the instrument.

"Oh my god, you were right, let's leave before we disappear too," Liz said scared as he hugged her arms.

Kid approached the piano and took a score that was on it.

"Moonlight Sonata…" he mused. "Maybe if this song is played something will happen."

"Aww, I wish Soul was here so he could play the piano for us," Patty said. "Sora, can you play the piano?"

Sora shook his head. "Not very good, but maybe I can try," he said looking at the gate next to the piano. "This gate must open when you play the song, so if I can at least play a few notes, you could push the gate down."

"Okay, let's give it a try," Kid said walking to the gate and Sora started to play the song the best he could. He managed to get the first part right and the gate opened a little, enough for Kid to see a switch at the other side of the gate.

"There's a switch there, Liz can you shoot it?" he asked.

"Okay, Patty transform!" she answered, grabbed her transformed sister and shot, successfully hitting the target and the gate fully opened.

"Alright, we did it!" Patty cheered.

"Good work," Kid said looking at Sora.

"Hey Kid, look what was inside" Patty said and she showed her meister an emblem that she took.

"I expected another thing, but I guess we're going to need this later," Kid said as he took the emblem.

The moment Sora was going to open the door, the sound of chains dragging on the floor could be heard and then they heard something that looked like it was climbing the stairs that led to the room they were now. It seems that they aren't alone in the mansion after all.


	13. An Old Acquaintance

_**An Old Acquaintance**_

Sora went to a mission with Death the Kid and the Thompson sisters; they had to find out why people disappeared when they entered certain mansion. After exploring a few rooms, they arrived to one that had a piano and they got an emblem that was hidden behind a secret door, however when they were about to leave the room, a sound made them stop and realize that someone or something was approaching them.

The Keybearer let go of the door knob and moved away from the door. What was behind that door wasn't a Heartless, at least it didn't sound like one. He looked at the shinigami with worried face, hoping that he knew what was coming up the stairs.

Kid understood what Sora wanted him to do, so he closed his eyes for a moment. The boy opened his eyes after a few seconds and looked at Sora.

"I don't know what is coming," he said, "but it has a soul and it's a Kishin Egg."

"Then it is an enemy, we should…" Sora was interrupted by a loud crashing noise. The door was destroyed by a big anchor, and the one who was holding it, entered the room. The team stared at the creature that they had in front of their eyes; it was tall and really muscular, especially in its back since it had a great size compared to a normal one.

"What the hell is that thing?" Liz asked frightened.

"No idea, but you two better transform," Kid said to the sisters and they obeyed. Right after they turned into guns, the creature roared and used its anchor to attack the group, Kid jumped back and dodged the attack and Sora crouched to avoid being hit. Unfortunately for Sora, he was too near the monster and it grabbed him tightly.

"Damn!" Sora exclaimed and drew his Keyblade immediately. Kid saw that he was in trouble and started shooting to the creature in the face, but it wasn't working. Sora also started to use his sword to hurt the monster, but it was no use, the monster moved because of the strength Sora was using to hit it, but its skin was really hard and the attacks didn't do any damage.

"Our attacks don't work!" Kid said, he was trying to think a way to kill that thing and then he noticed something on the creature's back. "Is that…an eye?"

"Try shooting it before that thing hurts Sora!" Liz said.

Kid did what Liz said and aimed at the eye, he started shooting and the monster screamed in pain and let go of Sora. The creature tottered and looked to the person who just shot, it looked more vulnerable when its eye was damaged, so Sora took advantage of it and hit the monster with the Keyblade in the head, making it face him and giving its back to Kid again.

The shinigami shot the eye again, but this time the monster got angry at him and started to swing its anchor repeatedly. Kid retreated, but his back hit the wall and had no escape. The monster was going to smash him, but luckily, Sora was fast enough and thrust his Keyblade through the creature's eye making it fall to the floor and disappear. In the place where the monster died, appeared a deep red sphere that floated in the air.

"Nice job," Kid said.

"I should be the one saying that," Sora said. "You found the weakness of that thing."

Kid let out a chuckle. "That was pure luck to be honest, but we better don't complain."

"Yeah…" Sora looked at the sphere that floated behind him. "Is that a Kishin Egg?"

"Yes," Kid replied, "a human soul that turned into a Kishin Egg."

"Then…that thing was human…" Sora said in realization and grabbed the soul. "So, how do you consume this?"

The girls looked at Sora, they forgot that he didn't know how Demon Weapons worked so maybe a little demonstration wasn't a bad idea; however when Sora was going to hand the soul to Liz, Kid told him to wait.

"What's wrong?" asked Sora.

The shinigami had a nervous expression on his face which made Sora look at him worried, however it wasn't something as bad as he thought.

"I'll collect the soul until we get another one, I don't want that one of them have more Kishin Eggs consumed than the other one," Kid said pointing at his partners.

Liz sighed. "I should have expected that from you."

"_This symmetry thing is going to get him in troubles, although I've got to admit that it's funny,_" Sora thought.

"Hey Kid, can you sense more monsters?" asked a curious Patty and Kid tried to detect more Kishin Eggs, but he didn't see anything.

"It's clear, but don't let your guard down," Kid warned as they left the room. They returned to the hall and started looking for another path but everything was closed, however Kid noticed that the door at the right side of the hall had an indent that matched the emblem's shape. He took the emblem and put it in the indent which made the door open.

"Why do I have the feeling that one of those things is going to be in there?" Liz asked.

"I can't sense any soul, but we must be careful with the corners," Kid said. "They are really dangerous, especially in enclosed spaces."

The group walked through a narrow corridor, there were windows so they could see the rain outside. They stopped in front of a door that, unsurprisingly, was closed.

"Great, another dead end..." Kid said.

"Or maybe not," said the Keyblade wielder. "Unlike the other doors, this one has a lock, so I can do this."

He took his Keyblade and aimed at the door's lock; a beam of light came out of the sword and unlocked the door. Sora walked to the door and opened it.

"Here you go," he said.

"That's amazing!" Patty exclaimed.

"I'm glad that you came with us, unless we would be stuck." Kid said.

Sora looked at the shinigami with a fake annoyed face and a slight smile. "Next time, I'm going to charge you for my locksmith services."

Kid let out a small laugh. "You sounded just like Kim, you know?" he said. "Anyway, let's continue."

"You guys go into the room," Sora said and then he pointed to his right. "I'm going to check up what is at the end of the corridor."

"All right, just be careful," Kid said. "We'll be inside the room when you come back."

Sora nodded and left the group; he crossed the corridor quietly and opened the door that was at the end. The room behind the door was full of boxes and small cages but nothing was out of the ordinary so Sora thought that he should return with the others. When he entered the room where Kid and the sisters were, he saw that the shinigami was sitting in front of a computer while Liz and Patty talked to each other.

"I'll be done in a moment," Kid told Sora without looking away from the computer's screen.

The only thing Sora could do was waiting for Kid to finish his researching or whatever he was doing, so he sat on a chair and started to relax a little. The Keyblade wielder started to think about the events that have happened lately. He cursed himself for telling the people at Shibusen about Xehanort, he didn't want to get more people involved, although Shinigami-sama knew about Xehanort and his plot since he was acquainted with Yen Sid. Also he didn't even wanted to think about the people he met when he left for training after the Mark of Mastery exam, luckily he didn't blurted out something like the Keyblade War or Kingdom Hearts.

"_All this is gives me a headache; I hope everything will end soon_." Sora was so lost in his thoughts that he startled when he noticed the pair of blue looking at him. Patty was crouched in front of him with a worried expression.

"Are you okay?" she asked, "You look sad. Have you seen one of those monsters again?"

"No, it's just that I was thinking about my other friends," Sora said. "I hope they are fine."

"If they are nearly as strong as you, I'm sure they won't have any trouble," Liz assured. "Remember yesterday's fight, you were incredible despite you almost fell asleep while we were inside the class."

"That's because he wasn't going all out," Kid suddenly said. He was still looking at the computer.

Liz looked at Kid with disbelief. "Come on, you can't be serious."

"I always hold back when I'm fighting against people who are my friends," Sora admitted. "I try to adapt to my opponent's level, I don't like to overdo it."

"And when you fought Black*Star…?" asked the older sister.

"Well, I realized he was holding back, so I did the same," Sora answered.

"Woah, Black*Star holding back in a fight…" Patty said surprised.

"I guess he is finally maturing," Kid commented while he stood up. "I'm done here; the fence behind the stairs in the hall should be open now."

"Have you found out anything else?" asked Sora.

"It seems that in this mansion there were people subjected to experiments that left them completely mutated," Kid replied. "The creature we saw was one of them."

Sora groaned in disgust and Kid continued. "The person who did this is already dead, the only thing we can do is to clear the mansion of these monsters since they have lost the ability to reason and they attack the first thing they see."

"Oh great, now instead of avoiding them, now we're looking for them," said Liz, not happy with the idea.

The team returned to the hall again and they walked to the fence that was behind the stairs which, like Kid said, was open now. After a long walk, they reached a door that led outside; they crossed the door and stood at the begging of a wooden bridge.

"This place is bigger than I thought," Sora said and then he looked at the sky. "At least it has stopped raining."

When they were at the middle of the bridge, a cracking sound could be heard and they stopped walking.

"Did you hear that?" Kid asked and they heard the same sound again.

"Oh god…" said Liz, suspecting what was going to happen.

The bridge collapsed and they fell. It looks that the mission is going to last more than expected.

* * *

Sora groaned as he recovered, the fall was big but fortunately he was uninjured. He stood up slowly and noticed that he was alone. He shook the dust from his clothes and started to look for his friends. While the Keybearer started looking for them, the two sisters were doing the same.

"I can't believe this happened…" Liz muttered.

"Don't worry sis," Patty told her. "We'll find them in no time!"

The Thomson sisters walked for twenty minutes, they found neither Kid nor Sora. The place where they were looked like a maze and there was water on the floor but it didn't even covered their feet. They were about to turn a corner, when they started to hear footsteps in the water. Liz poked her head around the corner to see who was there and saw one of the monsters they were looking for.

"We can't fight that thing on our own…" whispered Liz and suddenly she felt someone tapping her shoulder and she was so tense that the girl let out a scream and slapped the person who did that. When heard that her sister was laughing, she opened her eyes and look at the person who she just slapped.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you…" said Sora who had now a red and swollen cheek.

"It's okay, I'm sorry too," Liz apologized.

"By the way," Sora began as he rubbed his cheek, "what were you looking at?"

"We were looking at the monster that is walking around there," replied Patty and then the three looked at each other. They were thinking that if there was a monster near them it could be possible that it heard them.

Suddenly the wall behind the sisters was destroyed by the creature, it looked really angry and it was ready to strike. They couldn't fight with the monster face to face since the place where they were was very narrow, so they chose to hide.

"What are we going to do?" Liz panted.

"I can't get near to it until if it isn't stunned," said Sora, "and we can't split up because we may get ambushed by another one."

Then Patty's got an idea and looked at Sora. "Why don't you use us?"

Liz and Sora looked surprised at her; they didn't expect her to say that although it wasn't a bad idea since Sora could use most Demon Weapons without having the problem of matching the soul's wavelength.

"I could use your help to stun the creature and then take it down with my Keyblade," Sora said. "It could work, if you're okay with me using you."

"Of course," Liz said. "Besides it's our only option, right?"

The two sisters transformed in the air and Sora grabbed them. He felt weird, it was the first time he used guns as weapons and he wanted to make the cut. The Keyblade wielder raised the guns to calibrate his aim and he heard the girls laughing slightly.

"Sorry if I do it wrong, it's the first time I use a gun," Sora said a little embarrassed.

"It's not that," Liz told him. "If you noticed, Kid uses his pinkies to pull the trigger, so we get used to it."

"I get it," Sora said as lowered the guns. "He's quite a character."

"You could say that," she replied.

The three now started looking for the monster, the place could be a maze but at least it wasn't too big. They saw a ladder that could be the exit from this place so they were going to use it after killing the monster.

They saw the creature patrolling an area near to the ladder, so now Sora just had to shoot at its eye when he had the chance. He approached it carefully to have a better aim, and when he was close enough, he shot but, unfortunately, the monster turned right after he shot and the bullet didn't hit the eye.

"Crap!" Sora exclaimed as the creature started to walk toward Sora with killing intents. It started to swing its anchor, trying to hit the Keybearer, but he ducked and avoided the attack, then the monster smashed the floor with its weapon but Sora jumped away before being hit. Sora ran to the anchor and used it to jump behind the monster so he could damage it.

Sora's shots were successful and the monster cried in pain and moved so Sora couldn't hurt it again, but he launched the sisters to the air, so they could damage the eye again. Patty turned human again, grabbed her sister and shot three times which caused the monster to be stunned. Sora summoned his Keyblade and finished the monster.

"Phew, nice job," Sora said as he and Patty high-fived.

"We should look for Kid before leaving this place," Liz said. "Probably he's still around here."

While they tried to find the shinigami, they encountered more monsters, although now they weren't a problem to them since their combination attack could get rid of the monsters in a few seconds. They explored the place, but there was no trace of Kid.

They were about to return to the ladder that led to the exit, when a monster appeared behind them, it was about to hit them with the anchor but suddenly a trap fell on the monster from above. The three started to look around to see who activated the trap and they saw the shinigami standing on a platform.

"Finally I found you," Kid said as he jumped to where Sora and the sisters were.

"Were you the one who activated that trap?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, I managed to kill some monsters with them," answered Kid. "Do you know how to get out of here?"

"There is a ladder that could be the exit," replied Sora and they returned where the ladder was. After climbing the ladder, they arrived to the other side of the bridge that broke when they were crossing it. When they opened the door that was at the end of the path they were dumbfounded at what they saw. There were a lot of Kishin Eggs throughout a corridor and it was strange since they weren't there before.

"I'm starting to think that we're not the only people here," Kid said. They ran and reached a big door that led to a wide library, but there wasn't anyone in there.

"There's no one here," Liz said. "What shall we do?"

Kid crossed his arms. "Well, it seems that all the monsters in the mansion are dead, so we should take the souls and return to Shibusen."

They were about to leave the room, when they heard someone talking to them.

"Hey, are you leaving already?" said the voice. Sora and the others started looking for the source of the voice. The Keyblade wielder found the person who talked standing on a high bookshelf and he wasn't very glad to see him. It was a man with dark hair tied into a long ponytail, a large jagged scar on the left side of his face and an eye patch covering his right eye.

"Hey there, little Sora," greeted the man.

"You again…" said Sora with anger.

"Who is he, Sora?" asked Kid, noticing that the Keybearer knew the man who was talking to him.

Sora thought that it was useless to keep hiding things about Xehanort, so he answered Kid's question bluntly. "His name is Braig and you could say that he's Xehanort's right-hand man."

Kid, Liz and Patty were taken aback by what Sora said, they didn't expect to encounter one of his enemies and it looked that Sora didn't expect it either.

"What are you doing here?" asked Sora who had now a very serious expression on his face.

"Just checking that our old vessel is doing alright," Braig joked. "I see that you left your training to lend a hand to the kiddies of that school."

"Don't call me that!" shouted Sora. He didn't like to remember the fact that he almost became one of the members of the new Organization XIII if it wasn't for Riku.

"Hey, take it easy," Braig said, "you know that the old man is not interested in you for that anymore, however he wants you to get stronger for the upcoming battle. It would be a pity if one of the Lights is defeated easily."

"Are you here just to taunt me?" asked Sora who was starting to lose his patience.

Braig laughed. "As I said, you need to be stronger so I am here to see if you have improved since the last time."

"Then come and get me, you are going to regret it," said Sora.

"That's the spirit," Braig said and then he looked at the shinigami and the sisters. "But first…"

Suddenly, three Wyverns appeared in the room and grabbed Kid, Liz and Patty, taking them away from Sora. The Keybearer tried to help them but they were really fast and Braig sealed the room with a barrier.

"Sorry kid, if I let them interfere, the whole point of the fight would be ruined," said Braig as he descended to Sora's level. "So, shall we begin?"

Sora drew his Keyblade. "Let's do this."


	14. Test of Strength

_**Test of Strength**_

After Kid discovered that the monsters who attacked him and the rest of the team were humans who were subjected to experiments, the group started to clear the mansion from them and when they arrived at the mansion's library, they didn't expect to encounter one of Xehanort's allies. At this moment, Sora was fighting the man known as Braig.

Sora was following Braig in the air, the man dodged all his attacks and he kicked Sora in his back, sent him to the ground and started to shoot him. The boy turned around and used his Keyblade to deflect the shots. Braig aimed to his left and right and started shooting again, he used his powers to teleport the bullets.

The Keyblade wielder only could dodge some of the shots, but he recovered quickly, aimed his Keyblade at the sniper and started to charge energy. The charge finished and the boy fired a cluster of energy bullets from the tip of his Keyblade. The attack could hit Braig and also destroyed part of the room.

Sora rushed to attack him, but Braig teleported before the Keybearer could land his attack. The boy started to look at his surroundings, trying to spot his enemy. Suddenly he heard that Braig shot his Arrowguns, so he jumped back and dodged the bullets. Braig took the chance and teleported behind Sora and kicked him and sent him flying to a column. The spiky boy used his blade to stand up and looked at his enemy.

"Come on Sora," said Braig trying to provoke him, "show me that you are a worthy Keyblade wielder."

Sora was starting to realize that Braig was more powerful since their last fight so he needed to take the fight more seriously.

"_Alright, it's time to stop playing around_," he thought.

Another flurry of bullets was being directed to Sora, but this time he used his Keyblade to change the bullets' trajectory and now they were headed to Braig. The man vanished before his own bullets hit him, but when he appeared in another stop Sora was already waiting for him.

"You should try to be faster, Braig," said Sora and he sent Braig flying to a bookshelf with a horizontal slash. Braig recovered and used the shelf to impulse himself in Sora's direction and started shooting. Before the Arrowguns' bullets could hit him, Sora faded and appeared above Braig.

"Firaga!" Sora shot a great fire ball with his sword and produced a huge explosion. Braig could avoid being hit by the fire ball, but the explosion damaged him. The room was almost completely destroyed; it looked more like an empty room than a library. He recovered and looked at the Keyblade wielder.

"Not bad," he said. "By the way, the name's Xigbar, maybe I am a complete being, but I'm still an Organization's member."

"Whatever your name is, I'm still going to kick your ass!" Sora dashed to hit Xigbar again but he vanished. Sora threw his Keyblade to where Xigbar appeared but he could block it with his guns, however the Keybearer took the chance and retrieved his sword to attack the man.

Sora started to swing his Keyblade and Xigbar dodged his attacks, but then Sora pointed his weapon at Xigbar chest and used an ice spell. A burst of sharped ice came out from Sora's sword that injured Xigbar.

The Freeshooter jumped away and started to charge an attack with his Arrowguns and then a huge energy arrow came out from his weapons and started to pursue Sora. The boy started to run around the room so the large arrow didn't hit him and when he was near Xigbar, he jumped to him, but instead of attack, he teleported when he was close to him. This took the man by surprise and because of that, the energy arrow he shot went through him and caused the man severe damage. Before Xigbar could recover from that, Sora appeared behind him and sent his enemy to the ground with a strong vertical attack.

Xigbar stood up and threw his guns to the air and they started to shine. A rain of bullets was directed to Sora and he started to dodge. He realized that he had to hit the guns if he didn't want to get hurt so he threw the Kingdom Key and moved the guns so they weren't aiming at him anymore, however Xigbar took advantage of that and grabbed his Arrowguns really fast and teleported near Sora.

At first Sora was surprised when he saw Xigbar at his right, but then a smirk appeared on Sora's face which Xigbar found strange. He was about to pull the trigger when suddenly the Freeshooter felt how a sword hit him in the stomach and made him crash against a wall. When he recovered and turned his head to look at Sora, he saw that he had two Keyblades.

"_Looks like he is almost awake_," thought Xigbar. "_I should leave before he-_"

Before he could say something, Sora was already running toward him and when he was in front of him, the Keyblade wielder started to attack him with both swords. The Organization's member tried to block Sora's attacks, but the Keybearer was too fast so he couldn't do anything.

Sora grabbed the two Keyblades tightly and launched Xigbar out of the library, breaking the barrier the man created. Sora was moving Xigbar around the mansion with his attacks and they ended up outside, at the front door.

Xigbar panted as he tried to stand up. "I…I see why Xehanort is interested in you," he said. "I guess I can consider you a threat now."

Sora chuckled slightly. "I don't think you should keep trying to anger me."

The man stood up completely and clapped for a second. "Congratulations, you passed this test."

"What? Are you going to run away?" asked Sora.

"Not really kid," replied the Organization's member. "I only came to visit because the old man told me to test your strength; we've been doing it since you failed your exam."

"So it was you the one who sent that Dark Follower to attack me," said Sora when he remembered the incident during the training class.

"Yes and no," answered the man. "It was my idea to send that thing after you, but it wasn't me the one who did it."

Sora was confused at this, but then he realized that Xigbar wasn't the only one who was watching over him in Death City.

"As you may have deduced, there is another Darkness keeping an eye on you," said Xigbar. "He will fight with you as I did, and who knows, maybe if you pass his test, he'll make the Heartless leave that city alone."

"Who are you talking about?" asked Sora.

"Oh, I don't want to spoil the surprise," said Xigbar as he opened a Corridor of Darkness. "But I assure you that you will have fun…Master Sora."

Sora saw how the man disappeared in the corridor and when he was sure that he was gone, the boy vanished his two Keyblades and knelt on the ground. He wasn't badly injured, but using two Keyblades, for some reason, took him a lot of energy. After a few seconds he recovered and someone started to call his name, he turned his head to see that it was Kid and the sisters, he was glad that to see them.

He was about to ask if they were fine when Patty approached him and started to poke his arm.

"He-hey Patty," he said as the girl poked him, "that hurts."

"I want to make sure that you're whole," said Patty as she poked his other arm.

Sora grabbed her hand and smiled. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"Are you sure?" asked Kid and Sora nodded.

"What about you three? Where were you?" asked Sora.

"We fought the Heartless in a wide courtyard," answered Liz. "There were a lot but we managed to defeat them."

Sora sighed in relief, he was glad that they were okay, but now is more immediate problem was the other Darkness that was watching over him. If he wanted to save the city, he had to defeat that person, although he didn't trust Xigbar's words it was a possibility that he could save Death City if he wins that fight.

"So, what shall we do now?" Sora asked Kid.

"I've already collected all the Kishin Eggs, we should return to Death City," said Kid. "Are you sure you are okay?"

"I'm fine," said Sora. "I'm just a bit tired, let's go."

The next day, the team arrived in Death City at the morning, they walked to Shibusen to talk with Shinigami-sama but when they were half way, Sora told them to wait. The boy said that he was going for a walk and that they could told the headmaster about everything since Sora thought that he probably already know about what happen in the mission.

Now Kid, Liz and Patty were going to the Death Room, the shinigami couldn't stop thinking about the person who attacked Sora and he wondered what he told Sora. He thought that maybe he should ask his father about it or that maybe he should wait until Sora decides to talk about it.

"Kid, you should wait until he tells you," said Liz and Kid looked at her confused. "You were thinking about Sora, aren't you?"

"Yeah," admitted Kid. "That man told him something that is worrying him and-"

"Don't think too much about it," she interrupted. "He wouldn't hide important things from us, I'm sure he'll tell us when he's ready."

"I guess you're right," Kid said, grateful that Liz said that. "Let's talk with my father and see how the others are doing."

Meanwhile, Sora was walking down the streets. He was looking for a café or something to rest a little and think about what Xigbar said. He passed by the local where he saved Maka's father, but the Keybearer thought that maybe he should go to another place. Sora arrived at another street and saw a local called Deathbucks Café; it looked nice so he decided to enter.

When Sora entered, he saw a man in the Café's bar. He was middle-aged and had stern-looking eyes and short black hair. The man looked at the boy while he cleaned a cup. He was about to welcome the person that entered his local when he realized who he was.

"Oh, you're Sora if I'm not mistaken," said the man with a serious and calmed voice. "Welcome to Deathbucks Café."

"Do you know me?" asked Sora, although he already knew that his name was well-known in Death City since he started to protect it.

"Yes, of course," he replied never changing the expression on his face. "Some students of Shibusen come to this place to work when they need money or just to take a break and lately I've been hearing them talking about the Keyblade wielder that came to Death City."

"I see," said Sora. "Then, it's a pleasure Mr.…"

"Call me just Master," said the man. "Let me thank you for the hard work. Thanks to you I could reopen the local and people started to feel safe enough to come here at night."

"Oh, no need to thank me," replied Sora. "Knowing that the residents of this city are safe is enough for me."

A little smile could be seen in Master's face. "Then let me invite you a tea," he said. "I saw that you were slightly nervous when you entered so maybe a drink could calm you. Sit down and I'll tell one of the girls to bring you the drink."

Before sitting, Sora took a look at the waitresses and he saw that they were, at most, one year younger than him, but what he noticed the most was the uniform, it was like if someone paid so the waitresses wore a really short skirt.

"I suppose that the skirt of the uniform wasn't your idea," said Sora looking at Master.

"No…" replied him a tad nervous. "It was a suggestion I couldn't refuse from a certain person from Shibusen. He's an old acquaintance…"

Sora raised an eyebrow, he wondered who would make that kind of suggestion and then he remembered something Soul said when he found out that Spirit was Maka's father. He said that he was a dirty old man.

"_Could it have been him?_" thought Sora as he sat on a chair to wait for his drink. "_Well, it's not my business._"

Sora forgot about the uniforms and started to think about what he will do when the other Darkness appears and most importantly, who it was.

"I doubt that the old Xehanort would even bother," he muttered. "Maybe Xemnas or Ansem…I mean Xehanort's Heartless or one of the seven members that are still unknown to us."

"Um…." Sora didn't notice, but one of the waitresses was stood up near him with his drink. The girl was a year younger than him and had black hair tied into two short ponytails that remembered Sora of Maka a little.

"Oh sorry," said Sora. "I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice that you were waiting."

"No, don't worry about it," she said shyly. "You are…Sora-senpai, right?"

"Senpai?" said Sora confused. "Oh, are you a student of Shibusen?"

"Yes, I'm from the NOT group," she replied. "My name is Tsugumi Harudori, nice to meet you."

The Keybearer remembered that Sid told him that there were two categories of students in Shibusen, the non-combatant students that were the NOT group and the ones who are talented people with great power belonged to the EAT group. Shinigami-sama enrolled Sora in the EAT group, although that was obvious.

"Well, you already know my name," said Sora smiling at her, trying to make the girl feel more comfortable since she looked nervous. "But call me just Sora, okay?"

"But-"

"No buts," interrupted Sora and winked at her. Tsugumi blushed but smiled anyway and Sora was glad that he could make her feel less nervous toward him. Then another waitress approached Tsugumi, she looked around the same age and had long blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Tsugumi-san, you should attend the other customers," said the girl. "We need the money and Master won't pay us if you flirt with the customers."

Sora couldn't help but laugh when Tsugumi started to deny that she was flirting with her face completely red. After the blonde girl, whose name was Anya or at least that's what Sora heard, left, Tsugumi looked at Sora again.

"Sora-sen…I mean Sora," she said and then she bowed which took Sora by surprise. "Thank you very much for protecting the city!"

At first Sora was surprised but then he smiled, he knew that a lot of people were really grateful that he was in Death City and he couldn't disappoint them so, whoever the Darkness was, he was going to win no matter what.

While Sora was in Deathbucks Café, Kid and the Thompson sisters were talking with the others about their last mission. Kid didn't want to talk about it, but Maka was good at putting pressure on people.

"Are you serious?!" exclaimed Maka.

Kid nodded. "Sora told me that," he said. "I don't think he would lie about that."

"Was he strong?" asked Black*Star as if he only cared about that, but he was also concerned about the Keyblade wielder.

"We didn't see the fight, that guy took us out of the room and sealed it," Liz said.

"But he is okay, right?" Tsubaki asked.

"Yeah, he won the fight," Kid answered. "He was a bit wounded when we found him but he was fine."

Maka had a thoughtful expression and they noticed. Kid was starting to get nervous since he knew what she was thinking.

"What is it, Maka?" asked Ox who was curious about what was the girl thinking.

"There has to be more," she said and the group looked at her confused. "I mean, one of Sora's enemies followed him just to fight? I'm sure that guy told Sora something."

"Maybe you're right, but please don't start pressuring him," said Soul.

"Hey, I wasn't going to do it," Maka said and then she looked at Kid. "By the way, where is Sora?"

"He said that he was going for a walk," he answered. "To be honest, I also think that Braig told Sora something important, but we better wait until he decides to tell us."

"That's if he wants," Kilik commented. "Probably it's just something about "Keyblade wielders' affairs"."

"You could be right," said Liz. "Perhaps that's why he wanted to be alone."

"Look, let's stop thinking about it," said Kid. "Did something happen while we were on the mission?"

"Well, I don't know if you guys heard it," said Harvar, "but I some students said that Hiro left to try to be Excalibur's meister again."

"What?!" exclaimed Kim. "I hope you're kidding."

"If he makes it, the academy will be under his control again," Kilik said.

Everyone sighed, the last time Hiro partnered with Excalibur, he did what he wanted whenever he wanted and no one could say anything because he was the strongest student. Kid and Black*Star had the weird face that they put when Sora told them that he wanted to call his raft Excalibur and the others had worried and annoyed expressions, however Soul looked very calm.

"Soul, aren't you worried?" asked Maka.

"Not actually," he said nonchalantly.

"Why not?" asked Jacqueline. "Don't you remember that he beat Black*Star, Kid and Kilik with just one attack?"

"Yeah, I remember that," said Soul and then he smirked. "But this time we have another legendary sword that can stand up to Excalibur with ease, don't you think?"

"Wait, do you think he could win?" asked Ox. "I don't doubt that Sora's strong, but Excalibur is really powerful."

"And so is the Keyblade," said Kid. "Remember that Sora also fought against us in the training class and we couldn't even land a hit on him."

"It's going to be an interesting battle if Hiro shows up with Excalibur," said Kilik. "By the way Kid, did you and Sora perform a Chain Resonance?"

The shinigami shook his head. "We didn't have the chance," he said. "I'd have liked to try, but it wasn't necessary."

While they talked, Sora was already entering the academy looking for them. He felt more relaxed after hanging out in that Café and talking with Tsugumi, but he still wanted to know who the person that is going to fight him is.

Sora walked near the receptionist lady and looked at the Mission Board. There weren't any missions for anyone, maybe they were changing it. He walked around and he encountered his group of friends, they also saw him but instead of greeting him, they just looked at the boy. No one said anything and Sora was starting to feel awkward until he realized what they were thinking.

Sora sighed and gave them a smile. "Do you really want to know?"

"Just if it's okay with you," said Maka. "It's something bad?"

"Let's say that if everything goes well, it's a possibility that your city will be free of Heartless soon," said Sora and suddenly everyone looked happier.

"Really? That's awesome!" said Kilik. "But what do you mean when you said that it's a possibility?"

"One of my enemies is going to appear and I'm going to fight him," Sora said. "If I win, he will probably make the Heartless leave."

"Do you trust that guy?" asked Liz.

"Nope," said Sora bluntly and the others sweat-dropped. "But I have no choice."

"Do you know when it's going to happen?" asked Maka and Sora shook his head. "Then, what are you going to do until he appears?"

"There aren't missions for me so I don't know," said Sora. "I kind of feel bad, I still owe Black*Star a mission with me."

"Don't worry, I guess I can forget about the basketball match," Black*Star said as he smirked.

* * *

**Hope you liked this chapter; it's a bit difficult to write a fight between a swordsman and a sniper. I thought that it would be nice to make the characters of "Soul Eater NOT!" appear.**


	15. More Annoying than Legendary

_**More Annoying than Legendary**_

One day has passed since he returned, along with Kid, Liz and Patty, to Death City after he fought against the Freeshooter and he didn't know what to do until the Darkness decides to appear. He told Shinigami-sama about what Xigbar told him and the headmaster decided that Sora should forget about classes and focus on being prepared for that battle. Now the Keybearer was walking around the city, thinking about what he could do.

"_I could go to Deathbucks again,_" thought Sora. It was the first time he was bored on a mission, although it was obvious since not even the Heartless bothered to appear.

Sora walked for half an hour and he still didn't know what to do until he saw that there were a lot of people entering a street in front of him. He grew curious and decided to see what was going on there. When he turned at the corner, he saw a huge market in which there were a lot of people; it seems that the market was a way to earn money for students who were broke.

"Woah, it's the first time I see this," Sora said looking at all the stalls. He started walking around the market and he saw something that drew his attention, it was the mask of Shinigami-sama with the size of a badge. The Keyblade wielder decided to buy one as a souvenir, so he won't forget about this place since he would like to return once all is over.

After buying the badge, Sora continued eyeing the products of the market and then he saw some familiar faces, it was Kim with her partner Jacqueline and they were talking with two girls that were also familiar to the Keybearer, they were the waitresses who were working at Deathbucks when he spent the time there, although he recognized Tsugumi, he didn't know the name of the second girl. The student next to Tsugumi was slightly taller than her and had chin-length brown hair.

It looks like Kim was scolding Tsugumi or something like that so Sora thought of something that could help the girl with pigtails. Kim and Jackie were facing the other two girls, so they couldn't see Sora when he approached stealthily to them.

Tsugumi and the other girl didn't expect that Sora would start making funny faces behind the pinkette, so they found hard not to laugh at that, they had to bite their lips so Kim wouldn't get angry, but the Lamp Meister noticed their weird faces.

"What's wrong with you two?" asked her and then she felt that there was someone behind her so the girl turned and saw Sora making funny faces.

"Oops, you caught me," said Sora with a playful voice.

"Why were you doing that?!" said Kim with an embarrassed face as she hit Sora in the arm.

The Keybearer laughed at her reaction. "Sorry, you looked very serious," he said. "Besides I wanted to help Tsugumi since it seemed that you were scolding her."

"But why did yo-" Kim stopped talking when she noticed that Jacqueline was trying to hide her smile. "Not you too…"

"Sorry," Jackie apologized, "it was funny."

"C'mon Kim, don't be grumpy," said Sora. "I'm sure a smile would look good on you."

Tsugumi found incredible that there was a person that Kim couldn't get angry with, she always thought that the pinkette was someone you don't mess with but it looks like Sora was the exception to the rule.

"By the way," Kim said. "Since when do you know the newbies?"

"_Why does she keep calling us that?_" thought Tsugumi.

At first Sora was confused when Kim said "newbies", but then he realized that she was referring to Tsugumi and the other girl.

"I met them yesterday at Deathbucks," answered Sora and then he looked at the girl who he didn't know. "But I think I didn't get your name."

"Oh, I am…" she said and then he looked at the girl at her right. "Tsugumi, what's my name?"

Everyone sweatdropped when she asked that. Sora couldn't believe that the brown-haired girl didn't remember her own name.

"_It looks like she is a bit forgetful,_" thought Sora.

"Ah, now I remember, I'm Meme Tatane," said the girl, "nice to meet you, Sora-senpai."

"Likewise Meme and just Sora please," said the boy and the girl nodded and smiled.

"So, what are you doing around here Sora?" asked Jacqueline. "I didn't see you in class; I hope you're not skipping class without a reason."

"Relax Jackie," Sora said. "Shinigami-sama told me to forget about classes because of what I told you and the others yesterday."

"And what have you been doing?" asked Kim.

"Nothing," he said. "There aren't missions for me and the Heartless don't appear."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you will have something to do soon," said Kim.

"How do you know that?" asked the Keybearer.

"Have you ever heard about Excalibur?" asked Jacqueline.

Sora crossed his arms. "If you're talking about the sword, then yes, I've heard about it."

"Then let's just say that you're going to see it soon," Kim said and Sora could swear that there was mischief in her voice.

"So, what are you girls doing here?" asked Sora and Tsugumi spoke.

"Meme and I are trying to earn some money," said her. "We tried to sell this to Kim-senpai but she got upset."

The black-haired girl showed Sora a jacket that at first looked normal, but then he noticed that it had a hood with two tanuki's ears attached.

"I told you that I don't like those kinds of things," said Kim with an annoyed face.

Sora looked at the jacket for a moment and then he started looking at the pinkette; he had to admit that it would fit her very well. The girl noticed that Sora was smiling at her while looking at the jacket.

"Why are you looking at me like that?!" said a flustered Kim and she started chasing the Keybearer while the other three laughed.

Meanwhile Soul and Maka headed to Shibusen's exit after the girl returned a book to the library. The Demon Scythe had been thinking about something that bothered him lately and his meister noticed that he was acting weird since Sora and Kid returned from that mission.

"_Kid said that the man who attacked them had a black coat,_" thought Soul and then remembered that he bumped into someone who had a black coat after the basketball match. "_I better talk with Sora about it._"

"Soul…" said Maka. "Is there something bothering you?"

"I've thinking about something that might interest Sora," said Soul who felt a little bad because he made Maka worry. "Do you mind if we talk about it with him tomorrow?"

"Sure, don't worry," replied her.

Suddenly the two heard an explosion from outside; the two ran to the courtyard to see a lot of people gathered and, in the middle of the crowd, there were three people on the ground and they looked like if someone burned them.

"What happened?" asked Maka to a girl and she pointed to the sky. When Maka and her partner looked at the sky, they saw a boy with blond hair and with a golden sword in his hand.

"It looks like Hiro has arrived," said Soul like if he didn't care at all. "And those three were defeated…again."

"Let's go home before Excalibur starts a speech," said Maka and Soul agreed.

* * *

The next day, Hiro started to do what he did the first time he tried to be Excalibur's meister, he was now like the leader of all students in the academy and the blond could do whatever he wanted since no one could defeat him. Hiro sneaked into the girl's locker room, he fought every student who challenged him and some people began to lose patience.

"Damn," muttered Black*Star. "I'm going to kill him…"

"It seems that this time he's going to make it," Kilik said.

"How dared he?" said a very angry Ox. "He saw my beloved Kim in the girl's locker room; I'm going to make him pay."

"You will end up burned again Ox," said the boy's weapon.

"That guy disgusts me, but we can't do anything about it," Kid said frustrated.

As they talked, the girls approached the group, and two of them, Kim and her partner Jacqueline, had a very red face that could be of embarrassment and anger.

"That idiot is doing it again!" shouted Kim. "Doing what he pleases just because he is Excalibur's meister now!"

"Kim, please calm down a little," said Tsubaki.

"You had to admit that if any of us had such an amazing power, we would use it for our benefit sometimes," said Kilik.

"Well, you don't see Sora sneaking into the girl's locker room, do you?" said Maka. "By the way, have you seen him? This would be a good moment for him to show up."

"Kim and I saw him in the market yesterday," said Jacqueline. "We haven't seen him after that."

"Hey guys," said Soul who just opened the door of the class where the group was. "Hiro wants everyone to go outside the academy."

"That's it! I'm going to kill him!" Black*Star said and stood up, but Kid grabbed his leg and he fell.

"Relax," said Kid. "Let's go out and see what he wants."

Every student of Shibusen was outside the academy, half of them were at the right side of the courtyard while the other half was at the left and Hiro was in the middle with the legendary sword at his side.

"Now that everyone is here, Excalibur would like you to hear his recital!" said Hiro. "I hope you all enjoy it and please be quiet!"

All the area was quiet, but you could feel the murderous aura around the people who were at the courtyard. It's true that the last time Hiro mastered the legendary sword everyone started to admire his strong will and confidence, but now it was starting to get really annoying. Excalibur was about to begin his recital, when someone appeared from the stairs that led to that place. All were glad when they saw that it was Sora the one who climbed the stairs, now he could fight Hiro and take the wind out of his sails.

The boy looked surprised at all the people that where looking at him, he was completely oblivious of what was happening at the moment so he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Hey there!" he said and everyone fell in a funny way. Sora started to walk to get into the academy when he saw Hiro.

"Ah, you must be Sora," said Hiro. "My name is Hiro, the meister of the legendary sword, Excalibur."

"Excalibur?" asked Sora confused and then he noticed a small white creature that had a top hat and a white cane. The Keybearer couldn't believe that the creature he was looking at was the mighty sword, he looked at Kim, who was in the crowd, with an "are-you-kidding-me?" face and the girl just shrugged.

Sora was about to ask why everyone was outside the academy, but then something hit his chin. He looked down and saw that Excalibur was hitting him with his cane.

"You weren't here the last time," said the Holy Sword. "Who are you?"

"My name is So-"

"Fool! I don't remember asking your name," said the annoying creature.

"Yes, you-"

"Do you want to hear my legendary story?" asked Excalibur.

"Maybe another time, now I would rather-"

"Where are you from?" asked the sword again.

"Me? I'm from-"

"You don't look like a meister," interrupted Excalibur again. "Do you want to hear my epic tale?"

"Don't ask questions if you aren't going to listen," said Sora who was starting to lose his patience.

Excalibur didn't say anything for a minute and Sora was starting to get nervous while the other students looked at them, feeling sorry for the Keybearer.

"I'll tell you something interesting," said Excalibur as he walked away from Sora.

"…"

"My legend dates back to the twelfth century," he began, "I believe it all began on an intensely hot mid-summers day? Wait…it was a chilly autumn day…in those days, I was "bad" and so…thinking about it, I believe it might have been winter. My hometown was really "bad", was even famous for it. I hung out with the wrong crowd. Beautiful women would all fight over me. Wait…yeah, it was a summer day. A really hot mid-summer's day, that's how I remember it. Unlike now, I was a man like a finely honed knife. However for some reason I gave off a noble impression. Everyone said so, and still do. Although at that time I'm not sure if everyone said it as much. Everyone started to say it, that I was surprisingly kind. Now that I think of it o probably was giving off a noble impression. I was often told I was great. Still am great, but I was "bad". All in all it was a winter day full of noble…Alright then shall we get started on my legendary story~"

"How annoying…" said Sora with what some people call "Excalibur face". He now understood why his friends acted weird when he told them the name he wanted for the raft. He couldn't stand this guy and he just met him.

"ARGH!" shouted Black*Star. "SHUT UP, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Do I know you?" asked Excalibur to the blue-haired boy. Black*Star was about to attack Hiro, but Soul grabbed him before he could do it.

"Where have you been, Sora?" asked Kid who approached him after Excalibur "finished" his speech. Excalibur started to point at Kid with his cane and the shinigami pushed it away with the hand.

"Investigating," replied Sora and Excalibur pointed at him now. "I've been asking people if they've seen someone with a black coat in the city, but no luck."

"Now that you mention it, I'd like to tell you something," said Soul who was also there. "The day when we played basketball, I bumped into someone who wore a black coat; do you think it could be the person you're looking for?"

"Are you completely sure?" asked Sora with a serious expression and Soul nodded. "It could be, but that was four days ago."

"If you ask me," Ox began, "you shouldn't think much about it. That person will appear sooner or later so you don't have to stress yourself."

"I know it's just-" Sora stopped talking when he felt Excalibur's cane touching his face again. "Will you quit that? It's annoying."

"Is everyone ready for hearing my legendary tale?" said the sword.

"NO!" all shouted.

"Alright then, but first let's take a five minutes break," Excalibur said as he whirled his cane. "Everyone sit in seiza position while you wait."

Sora's eye began twitching, he didn't even want to think what would have happened if Donald met Excalibur since the duck was very irritable.

"How can you stand this guy?" asked Sora looking at Hiro.

"It isn't difficult at all," replied him. "For the power given to me by the Holy Sword, upholding a thousand conditions is a small price to pay."

"…thousand…" said Sora in disbelief.

"Yeah, if you want to be this disgusting thing's meister you must meet the thousand requirements of his list," said Kid.

"Don't tell me you actually tried…" said Sora.

"Black*Star and I went to the cave where Excalibur was," replied the shinigami, "but we couldn't stand him and left him there."

"I also paid him a visit," added Ox. "I completely regret it."

"I still don't understand how you couldn't put up with it," said Hiro. "Sora, I'm sure that you, as a Keyblade wielder, understand what I mean."

"Not really," replied him. "I would've ditched this guy immediately to be honest."

"Are you a Keyblade wielder?" asked Excalibur while he hit Sora with the cane again.

"Yeah, why?" said Sora and Excalibur didn't answer anything, he just stood there without saying a word and then he started to walk away. The white creature returned to where Sora and the others were after walking a few steps.

"In my story there were a lot of powerful warriors, would you like to hear it?" asked Excalibur.

"Oh my god…" muttered Sora.

"My legend began on a Tuesday or Wednesday, just like today," Excalibur said. "Maybe it was Thursday."

"If you're going to tell a story, know what you're going to say," said an annoyed Sora.

"No, I guess it was a Monday," continued the Holy Sword. "Maybe Tuesday or Wednesday…Even though I say it was on a Wednesday, there's a chance it was a Friday…It'd be better if it was a Tuesday, but it could've been a Wednesday…Though I could say it was on Thursday, maybe it was a Tuesday, but if it was a Monday, it could have been a Friday…No, perhaps it was…"

"LET ME AT HIM!" shouted Black*Star in desperation while Tsubaki was grabbing him so he couldn't move.

"Could someone tell me what's been going on here?" asked Sora and Kilik told him what Hiro has been doing while he wasn't at Shibusen and that everyone expected that him could fight the blond so he stopped.

"The three of you…" Sora said looking at Kilik, Black*Star and Kid. "With just one attack? Are you serious?"

"Mmmh, a battle between two legendary swords would be something worth watching," said Hiro who wanted to show off his abilities in front of everyone again. "What do you say Sora?"

"_It would be a good training,_" thought Sora. "_I must stay in shape for when the Darkness appear._"

"You want to fight?" asked Excalibur. "I'm the legendary Holy Sword; a puny Keyblade wielder doesn't stand a chance against me."

"Puny…" said Sora. "Okay, now you're going to get it."

Hiro and Sora took up positions to start the fight while the other students gave them space, everyone was eager to now the result of the battle between Excalibur and the Keyblade.

"So today is Sora against Hiro, huh?" said Sid who just came out of the academy to see what was happening and he was being followed by Stein.

"Professors," began Ox, "who do you think will be the victor?"

"Both are two magnificent weapons," said Stein, "the Keyblade and Excalibur. People know much more about Excalibur so it's normal that some of them consider Excalibur to be the most powerful sword in existence."

"Your book Maka," said Sid looking at the girl. "It doesn't talk much about Keyblades, does it?"

"Not much," replied her. "It just talks about some of the sword's abilities and how some wielders used it to save the worlds."

"And what's your answer to Ox's question?" asked Soul.

"All of you should know the answer to that," said Stein. "If not, just watch."

Sora looked at his two opponents, he didn't have anything against Hiro, but he really wanted to beat Excalibur.

"Alright, let's begin, Excalibur!" said Hiro and the white creature transformed into a golden sword, all the area started to shine and Sora covered his eyes. A light beam came out from the sword when Hiro grabbed it and the boy got wings made of light that made him look like a divine being.

"What a show," said Sora, lightly impressed by the lights.

"I don't have a grudge against you, Sora," said Hiro, "but I can't go easy on you."

"Me neither and don't worry, I won't go easy on you either," replied the Keybearer and then he started to walk toward Hiro without the Keyblade summoned.

"If you aren't going to attack, I'll be the first," said Hiro who was surprised that Sora hadn't the Keyblade in his hand yet. The blond swung the Holy Sword and sent a wave of light to Sora who just kept walking and then, when the wave was about to hit him, he just turned sideways and avoided the attack.

Hiro was startled by this, Sora didn't even bothered in summoning his Keyblade and he just walked and avoided his attack. He was about to attack again, but then he realized that Sora was started to run toward him so he used his wings to fly and get away from him.

The boy looked at the ground to spot Sora, but he didn't find the spiky anywhere, he just saw the people who were at the courtyard.

"Behind you," said the Keyblade Wilder who was just behind Hiro. The blond boy turned his head and then he was kicked and sent to the ground by Sora. Hiro used his wings to stop the fall and looked at the spiky boy.

"How did he do that?" said him, not believing that he was losing so easily against someone without a weapon. Hiro flew to Sora and started to swing Excalibur, sending a lot of light blasts toward the Keybearer. Sora summoned the Kingdom Key and used his own light wave to destroy Hiro's offensive, then he dashed to Hiro really fast and before the boy could react, Sora put his hand on the boy's chest and used a wind spell that made Hiro crash on the ground.

The Shibusen's students couldn't believe what they were looking at; the boy that could defeat the three most powerful students from Shibusen with just one strike was being treated like a weakling. All of them knew that Sora was really skilled, but being able to do that to someone who had Excalibur as a partner was simply impressive.

"He…he's just toying with Hiro," said Kilik amazed.

"Just as I expected," said Kid smiling.

"I don't get it…seriously," said Ox.

"It's obvious," Sid said and some students looked at him. "What is happening here is a good example of experience level difference."

"What do you mean?" asked Maka.

"Let's see," said Sid as he tried to think a way to explain what was happening at the battle. "Excalibur and the Keyblade are two swords with a great power, right?"

All the students nodded, although some of them were still watching how Hiro was getting owned by Sora, everyone wanted to hear Sid's explanation.

"We could say that their power is, more or less, matched," Sid explained, "but in this fight, the power of the sword isn't what is making the big difference, is the experience of the wielder. Hiro has zero experience in combat, while Sora is someone who has been in a lot of battles."

"Then," Liz began, "why when we fought Hiro for the first time, he defeated us in a breeze? I mean, all of us had more experience than Hiro."

"Well, his attack with the Holy Sword hit you directly," said the professor. "Besides your meisters weren't synchronized very well that time and Hiro took advantage of that."

"And people tend to lose their focus when fighting Excalibur," added Stein.

"But even so," began Tsubaki, "in the training class, we should've been defeated immediately when we fought Sora-kun, or not?"

"He said he was holding back, right Kid?" said Patty and the boy nodded.

"Seriously?" asked Soul surprised. "I thought that we could have won against him that day."

"Probably," said Kid. "But he's the type of person who only goes all out when his enemy tries to kill him or if is stronger than him. You also did the same, right Black*Star?"

"Bah, I just wanted to check if he was strong enough to be protecting Death City," said the ninja who was embarrassed that they now know that he held back against the Keybearer.

"Keyblade wielders are amazing," said Kilik. "Too bad the Keyblade isn't a Demon Weapon."

"I wonder how strong he is," Harvar said looking at Sora who was dodging Hiro's attacks and counterattacking when the boy led his guard down.

"He's been here eight or nine days and there're still a lot of things that we don't know about him," said Maka.

"Don't be so curious, everyone has the right to keep something for themselves," said Soul and the girl pouted.

Meanwhile, Hiro continued trying to defeat the Keyblade wielder, but all his attacks were useless. He executed the attack called "Hiro the Atomic" to see if he could beat Sora with that technique but after the explosion, when he started to look for the brown-haired boy, he didn't see him burned like Kid or Black*Star, instead of that, Sora was lying on the spiked structure of the academy grinning at him.

Sora descended to the ground before Hiro attacked him so he wouldn't break the spike and cause Kid a heart attack.

"Do you want to stop or should we keep going?" asked Sora.

Hiro started to lose his confidence and also began to think that maybe Excalibur wasn't so mighty after all or maybe it was that the Keyblade was much better.

"I must try one more thing," said Hiro as he raised the golden sword. After a few seconds, clones of Hiro started to appear and then Sora was surrounded by four clones and the real Hiro. The five started to attack Sora simultaneously but even with five opponents, the Keybearer managed to not being hit with the Holy Sword.

Sora jumped away from the group of "Hiros" and then to finish the battle he used a spell that could be a more powerful version of Firaga and caused an explosion similar to the one Hiro did with his atomic technique. All the clones were destroyed while Hiro and Excalibur appeared on the ground toasted just like Kid and the others when they fought him.

"It's like he got payback for us…" said Kilik.

"Dammit! I was the one who wanted to beat that annoying guy!" said Black*Star.

Sora walked to Hiro and healed him; the blond recovered and sat on the ground, he had an expression of sadness and disappointment.

"I thought I could do anything with Excalibur…" muttered Hiro.

Sora crouched and looked at him. "You know," he began, "if you showed every day that confidence you had with Excalibur, I'm sure you would get a more normal partner."

"Do you think so?" said Hiro while scratching his head. "I've never been a good fighter."

"Hey, when I started I wasn't an expert either," said Sora. "Just don't give up and don't let others discourage you, okay?"

"Right, thanks Sora!" said Hiro who now was more cheerful.

"I congratulate you," said Excalibur who just recovered from Sora's spell. "As reward I'll sing you a song, are you ready?"

"Someone please stop him," pleaded Sora.

"Excalibur, Excalibur …"


	16. Wrong Enemy

_**Wrong Enemy**_

_**Shibusen**_

"Man, that fire and thunder spells you used are amazing," said Kilik.

"I would like to learn more about your thunder techniques," said Ox. "As the Lightning King, I'm always interested in this kind of things."

"I doubt we can use that thunder magic," Harvar commented. "But it would be great."

The three boys were talking to Sora who accepted to spar with them before, Kilik's partners also were there, but the two kids never talked a lot.

"I hope I didn't overdo it," said Sora. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine, don't worry," said Kilik although this wasn't totally true since all of them had their clothes a bit shattered and also had a lot of bruises on their body while Sora was intact.

They walked until they reached the Mission Board, Sora wanted to check if there were missions for him, but he'd no luck. Sora was disappointed, but at least he could spare with some students, although it looks like they had more fun than him for some reason. The group went into their class and they found that Kim and Jacqueline were there. Like always, Ox started to praise the pinkette.

"My dear Kim, you look beautiful today," said the boy with glasses and the girl just shoved him away.

"Stop being so clingy," said her. "By the way, what have you guys been doing? You look like if someone beat you up."

"We've been in the training room, sparring with him," said Harvar as he pointed at Sora.

"That explains why he has no bruises or cuts," joked Jacqueline.

"Hey, we have to get strong somehow," said Kilik. "And Black*Star is not a good option to be honest."

Sora decided to stay in the class and listened to Marie and Spirit who were the professors that day. They talked about souls and the types of souls that people could have and how the result of the resonance could change according to it. He found the class interesting, even though he wasn't a fan of schools. When the class finished the group started talking about what they were going to do during the day.

"Hey Sora," began Kilik, "are you up for another round?"

"What do you mean?" asked Soul.

"We sparred before coming to class," clarified Ox while he adjusted his glasses. "I wouldn't mind to repeat."

"You could have called me for that, you know?" said Black*Star who now also wanted a spar match. "I'm always up when it comes to fighting."

"You always end up defeating your opponents too quickly," said Kilik. "We wanted to train so we thought that Sora would be a good "teacher"."

"If you're going to fight, I'm in," said Maka.

"Uh, are you serious?" asked a surprised Soul.

"Yes," replied her. "We also must practice, I don't want to be left behind and you could be a Death Scythe sooner if we are stronger."

"No argument with that," said Soul realizing that she was right.

Spirit, who didn't left the class yet, watched how all the teens got along and he couldn't help but smile. He had a reason for being there and approached them, although he didn't want to interrupt their conversation, he needed to do it.

"Uh, excuse me, Sora," said the man and the boy, along with the others, looked at him. "Here, take this."

Maka's father gave the Keyblade wielder a small paper and Sora looked to see what was written on it. Kid also wanted to know so he looked at the paper too.

"Coordinates?" said the shinigami puzzled.

"Yeah, umm," Spirit began, "Azusa detected a lot of Heartless activity in that area, it's been a while since we haven't seen any Heartless so Shinigami-sama thinks that you should go there."

"Sure," said Sora. "I'll go there now."

"And one more thing," Spirit said. "She also detected two people and it seems that the Heartless don't attack them for any reason."

Sora face turned serious, those two could be Darknesses and it looks like Shinigami-sama thinks the same. This may be an opportunity to get rid of the Heartless in Death City so he stood up immediately and when he started to walk to the exit, he stopped because someone grabbed the hood of his jacket.

"Not so fast, spiky," said Kim who was the one grabbing Sora's hood.

"_Spiky…_" thought everyone.

"You're not going alone," said the girl without letting go of him. "We're all going with you."

"What?" Sora asked dumbfounded, he couldn't believe what Kim just said and he didn't like the idea of bringing the whole group with him either. Sora knew that they were strong but he didn't want to run the risk.

"Sorry Sora-kun, we've already decided this," said Tsubaki. "We don't want you to go alone, we want to help you."

"We talked with Shinigami-sama about it too," Ox said. "He gave us the green light."

Sora was speechless and he looked at Spirit who just shrugged, it looks like he also knew about it. All of them have planned to go with him when he had to leave, on the one hand he didn't want them to come but on the other hand he was happy that they cared so much about him. He crossed his arms and started to think which make the others nervous since they didn't know how he was going to react.

Sora sighed and laughed slightly. "I guess I can't do anything about it," he said smiling at them and they returned the smile.

"You're not getting rid of us, man," said Soul.

"We stand together until the end," Kid added.

"Just promise me that you won't do anything reckless," Sora said looking at them, especially at Black*Star.

"Hey, why are you looking so much at me?" asked him.

"What do you think?" said Kilik jokingly and the others laughed.

Spirit was glad that Sora took it well, but he was worried for them, especially for her daughter so after the teens left, he went to the Death Room since he wanted to know why Shinigami-sama allowed them to go with Sora to such a dangerous mission. When the man arrived at the room, he saw that the rest of the teachers were also there.

"Ah Spirit-kun, did you gave Sora the message?" said Shinigami-sama.

"Yeah, he left the academy already with my daughter and the other students who requested to go with him," he answered.

"I still don't get why you let them to go with the Keyblade wielder," said Azusa. "It's too dangerous for them."

Spirit was glad that the woman said that since he didn't know how he was going to ask the headmaster about it.

"Alright, alright, I'm going to explain you," said Shinigami with a funny voice. "I'm sure you know that the level of madness has decreased recently."

"I can confirm that," said Stein. "I feel better since Sora arrived."

"Precisely," said the headmaster. "The Keyblade, apart from being able to destroy darkness itself, can also control the levels of madness. The area where they are going has a higher level of madness than here so I thought that it would be a good idea to let the kids go with him."

"But why them?" asked Marie.

"Even if the Keyblade can control the madness, it has its limit," said Shinigami. "These kids are strong and are more used to the madness than him so as long as they are together, he will be fine, besides Sora works better when he's with his friends."

"Wait, do you think that Sora could be controlled by madness?" asked Spirit.

"Just like the darkness, there's madness in everyone," explained him. "I saw the fight he had against one of Xehanort's Darknesses, he managed to control his emotions, but it was clear that he has problems when it comes to that man."

"Even so, Sora is not the kind of person who would fall into the madness easily," said Stein. "But there's another thing about him that is really worrying and it's the main reason why they are with Sora right now."

"What is it?" asked Sid. "Is he in danger?"

"No, at least not yet," said the doctor. "Is about the resonance he did with Soul and Maka."

"Wait, nothing bad will happen to my daughter, right?" asked a worried Spirit.

"No, don't worry about her," assured Stein. "Listen, the resonance they did is more "deep" than a normal resonance between souls."

"What are you trying to say?" asked the blue-skinned professor.

"We all know that Soul Eater has black blood because of the Demon Sword, Ragnarok," said Stein. "So it's highly possible that now Sora has it too because of that resonance."

Everyone remained silent; no one could say a word after what the doctor said, it was hard to believe that now Sora had black blood running through his body.

"Shit," said Spirit. "This is not good, what are we going to do?!"

"Calm down," said Shinigami-sama. "As I said the Keyblade can control the level of madness and of course it will protect its wielder from the black blood to, as long as Sora has his Keyblade with him, he will be fine."

"The problem is the Darkness he's going to fight soon," said Stein. "He might lose control and the black blood could affect him."

"We must put our hopes on the kids," said Shinigami. "They care a lot about Sora and they are watching his back now, that'll help him to be more calmed."

"I can't imagine him to be controlled by the madness," Marie said. "He looks so nice and is very kind with everyone."

"If something happens to him, I'll take the responsibility," said Shinigami and then he looked at Spirit. "Don't tell Soul or Maka about this, if they find out they'll be devastated and that won't be helpful."

The Death Scythe nodded. "_A Keyblade wielder possessed by madness, I don't even want to think what would happen._"

* * *

The team was arriving at the area where Azusa detected the Heartless and the other two people. It was a huge forest, similar to the one where Sora, Maka and Soul went, but this one was much darker and wider. The Keyblade wielder could felt how the air was getting thick when they went into the forest and Maka and Kid noticed that too.

"Hey Kid," Maka whispered. "Can you…?"

"Yeah," he replied. "The level of madness here is a bit high, maybe that's why my father let us come here with Sora."

"We're used to it," said the girl. "But do you think he'll be fine?"

"I don't know," replied the shinigami. "The moment we entered the forest, I could feel how the madness increased, but I think that his Keyblade is like a repellent for it."

"That would explain why the level of madness decreased in Death City," said Maka. "But still, I'm worried, it would b-"

"What are you two mumbling about?" asked Soul who saw that they were whispering to each other.

Maka looked at Kid and he nodded, it wasn't a good idea to keep that as a secret so the girl told his partner about what they were talking and Soul listened carefully.

"It could be a problem," said Soul while looking at the Keybearer. "But as long as we're here we can assure that he's doing alright, besides I don't think he would give in."

Sora knew that something was wrong with the place they were, because he started to feel a bit weird but he didn't know why. He was also nervous because his friends were with him and he didn't know who they were going to encounter. He was starting to get dizzy but suddenly Black*Star gave him a strong pat on the back that made Sora come to his senses immediately.

"What's with the long face dude," said Black*Star. "Your work is almost done, cheer up!"

"You're surprisingly happy today," said Sora smiling at the ninja.

"What can I say," said the blue-haired boy. "Tsubaki and I are finally in a mission with you, although I'd prefer if they weren't here."

"Hey, we can hear you!" said Kilik.

"Sora-kun, are you feeling alright?" asked Tsubaki. "You looked pale for a moment."

"Just a bit dizzy," replied Sora, "but when Black*Star hit my back I felt well again."

"See, you need me here," said Black*Star. "There's not a disease that the great Black*Star can't heal!"

They kept walking into the woods, but there weren't Heartless around so Kim used Jacqueline to fly and take a look at the forest from the air. When the girls descended they told the rest of the group that the woods looks clear, but there was a huge castle in the middle of it.

"A castle?" said Ox and Kim nodded.

"Oh great, another creepy place…" said Liz who knew that they will end up going into the castle.

"We should investigate that place," said Sora which made the older sister whine.

"Hey, human radars," said Black*Star looking at Kid and Maka, "can you see if there's anyone in that castle."

The two looked with an annoyed expression at Black*Star, but started to use they Soul Perception anyway.

"I can't see anything inside the castle," said Maka with her eyes closed. "But there's someone at the entrance."

"Yeah, I can see it too," confirmed Kid who has his eyes closed too. "But if you ask me, the person doesn't look very powerful."

"Let's go then," said Ox. "We're fifteen so it should be enough if he's an enemy."

The team started to approach the castle, when Sora saw it he remembered the castle of Radiant Garden. Kid could felt that the level of madness decreased when they were getting near the entrance. Someone could be seen stood up poking his head inside the front door of the castle and Sora immediately recognized who was at the door.

"Oh my god, I can't believe this," said the Keybearer as he facepalmed. The others looked at him confused and Kid approached the person to ask him what he was doing.

"Excuse me," he began, "could you please tell us what you are doing here?"

"I'm waiting for my boss," said the figure without looking at the group. "She's in a meeting and she is late, I don't like this place and the Heartless don't obey me when I walk away from this spot."

"Heartless," said Kid and the others, except Sora, were preparing themselves for a fight.

"Yes, those little monsters are acting weird around in this area," said the figure. "And what's worse is that lately someone has been destroying the Heartless and they couldn't create more of them."

"C'mon big guy," said Black*Star, "call those Heartless of yours so we can beat them up along with you!"

"Who do you think you're talking to, you little brat?" said the figure as he turned around to face the teens and he startled when he saw Sora.

"Hi Pete," said Sora obviously not amused with his presence.

"Oh no," said Pete, "not you again, are you following me or something?"

"I could ask you the same thing," replied the boy.

"You know this guy, Sora?" asked Soul and the Keybearer nodded.

"Let's say that Pete has been causing me troubles for some time," said Sora. "Although he's a bit, well, pathetic."

"What did you say, punk?" said an angry Pete.

"So, if I heard correctly," Sora said, "the old hag is inside, right? I think I should pay her a visit."

"I don't think so kid," said Pete trying to intimidate Sora, but failing. "You won't pass unless I let you."

"Hey Sora, can I hit him?" asked Black*Star.

"Sure, go ahead," Sora answered.

"Oh, so you brats think you can defeat mighty Pete? Let's see if how you deal with the Heartless," said the giant cat and he snapped his fingers making two Shadows appeared suddenly.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Harvar when he looked at the two Shadows.

"This is so lame," said Patty laughing.

"Mighty Pete in all his glory," Sora said.

"You're going to regret making fun of me," said Pete and he whistled.

More Heartless started to appear, there were a lot of Invisible and Angel Star appearing and surrounding the group. The teens started to regroup and suddenly, Sora heard a growl that came from behind him.

"What the hell is that thing?" said Soul.

Sora turned his head to see a Behemoth Heartless, specifically a Destroyed Behemoth who was approaching them. The Keybearer looked at Pete, but he wasn't there anymore.

"Damn you Pete," said Sora. "Okay, it's time to fight, I hope you're ready."

Every meister grabbed their own partner or partners as they transformed.

"Let's do this," everyone said and they charged at the Heartless. They thought that it would be better to let Sora take care of the Behemoth, except Black*Star since he followed the Keyblade wielder with Tsubaki in his hands.

"You'll taste the power of the Lighting King outdoors," said Ox as he swung Harvar, then he executed an attack that created lots of lightning bolts that could destroy some Invisibles, however the Angel Stars were intact and Ox found that strange.

"It looks like they're invulnerable to thunder attacks," said Harvar.

"Leave them to us!" said Kim and she and Kilik used their partners to burn all the Heartless who were near Ox with their own fire techniques.

"Thank you, dear Kim," thanked Ox.

"Don't get used to it," replied the girl.

Meanwhile Maka and Kid were fighting with another group of Heartless. A couple of Invisibles started to attack the Shinigami with their swords but he dodged every attack and parried with his guns the hits that he couldn't avoid. The scythe meister was defeating a lot of Heartless fluently, although there were a lot and whenever she killed one, another took its place.

"If they keep coming we're going to need to use that," said Soul.

"The Heartless Hunt?" asked Maka while she continued fighting. "I don't think it'll be necessary, at least not yet."

Kid shot some Angels that were going to attack from the air and destroyed them, when he lowered his gaze he saw Sora and Black*Star fighting the Behemoth together, he was amazed that the two of them were so synchronized.

"Woah, those two are on fire," said Liz.

"Yeah," replied Kid. "There's no doubt that Black*Star wanted to fight with Sora at his side."

Sora and Black*Star attacked simultaneously at the Behemoth's horn, they managed to damage the Heartless considerably, but it wasn't enough to defeat it. Black*Star used one of the chains of the Kusarigama to grab the Heartless' horn and get on his back. The Behemoth leaped to get the ninja off his back and landed near the others who were fighting the Heartless.

"This thing doesn't stop moving," said Black*Star and jumped near Sora. "Hey, why don't we try to do a resonance?"

Sora was surprised by this, but after thinking it for a second it didn't look like a bad idea.

"Alright, let's do it," said Sora and he started to focus.

Black*Star and Tsubaki did the same, the three were now in synch and then, they could do the resonance. Suddenly the two teleported with a great speed and they appeared near the monster's horn and started to perform a combination attacks that remembered to Sora's limit attack with Riku. Some Heartless went to help the Behemoth, but they were immediately destroyed by Sora or Black*Star.

Tsubaki was transformed as the Uncanny Sword, so the resonance didn't last much and ended after five minutes. Most of the Heartless were destroyed but the Behemoth still needed another attack to be destroyed.

"It's still kicking," said Black*Star.

"Move!" shouted Kid who was now preparing an attack. He used the Soul Resonance with Liz and Patty who were now two hand-cannons. Kid aimed at the Behemoth and shot two big bullets that caused a huge black explosion that destroyed the Heartless definitely.

"That was neat," said Sora and Kid smiled.

The others managed to finish the rest of the Heartless off and now the area was clear. They regrouped at the entrance of the castle and Black*Star started to do weird things with his hands which cause the others to look at him like if he was crazy.

"What are you doing…" said Soul.

"I don't feel any difference," said Black*Star.

"What do you mean?" asked Sora confused.

"We did a resonance, but I still feel the same," replied the boy. "Tsubaki, can you transform into a Keyblade?"

The girl shook her head. "No, sorry Black*Star," she said and the boy looked disappointed.

"You two did a normal Chain Resonance not a Heart-Soul one," said Kid.

Sora laughed a little. "My bad," he said.

"You should leave the Keyblades to the professionals," Soul said pointing at Sora.

"Hey, at least we're in a mission with Sora," said Jackie. "You should be happy; I thought that's what you wanted."

"Well, I expected to encounter one of those Darknesses he talks about," said the ninja, "but we found that Pete guy instead and he ran away."

Sora was looking at the castle while the others talked, Ox noticed and talked to him.

"Are you going to enter?" asked the boy with glasses.

"Yeah, I want to have a talk with the person who's in there," replied Sora. "She probably knows that we're here so be careful."

"You said "old hag" before," mentioned Kilik. "I guess you know the person who is in the castle."

"Yes, a witch called Maleficent," Sora answered.

"A witch?!" everyone said surprised and Sora nodded.

"Since I got my Keyblade," Sora said, "she has been trying to kill me when she had the opportunity."

"Maybe this mission is going to be more productive for us than for you," said Soul. "If you don't mind we could take her soul."

The Keybearer chuckled as he and the others entered the castle "If you eat her soul, you're going to get a bad stomach ache."

Sora didn't notice, but when he mentioned that the person inside the castle was a witch and that she tried to kill him, Kim's face turned sad for some reason.

"Kim," said Jacqueline, "let's go inside before they left us behind."

"Sure," replied her with a sad tone in her voice.

* * *

**I thought that it would be good that Maleficent appeared in the story since she's a witch after all. Thanks everyone for the support, I'm glad that so many people is liking this crossover.**


	17. Two Different Witches

_**Two Different Witches**_

Shinigami-sama sent Sora and the others to a mission, although it was more for Sora, the other students wanted to go with him and the headmaster let them do it because of some troubles that could affect the boy. The Keyblade wielder expected to encounter the other Darkness, but he found Pete instead. Now that he knew that Maleficent was in the castle, he wanted to know why she was doing there.

The group was moving through the castle as they defeated the Heartless they found, the castle was big, but it was difficult to get lost since there was only one path. The castle was similar to the one in Radiant Garden so Sora knew where to go, but then they reached a part that was new for him.

"Three doors…" said Sora.

"We will have to split up," Kid told him.

"There are Heartless behind all the doors," said Maka. "It's doesn't matter which door we take, we'll have to fight anyway."

"Alright, I'm going first!" said Black*Star as he ran to the door in the middle, with Tsubaki in his hands.

"…"

"Moron…" Maka muttered.

"He'll be fine, don't worry," said Sora. "So, how are we going to do it?"

After a minute, they split up in two groups, one group was Maka, Ox and Kilik and the other was Kid, Kim and Sora. Since Maka can detect the Heartless with her new perception ability, they decided that she and Sora should be in different groups. Sora didn't know why but Kim was a bit distant toward him, whenever he looked at her, the girl just looked away as if she was scared of the Keyblade wielder. Jacqueline knew the reason, but she couldn't tell him or anyone about it.

"This is less scary than the mansion, right sis?" said Patty.

"Maybe it's because we're more this time," replied the older sister. "I just hope that we don't get separated like in that mission."

"I'll have my eyes opened if there's another bridge," said Kid. "By the way Sora, that witch, is powerful?"

"Yeah, although she prefers to let others to do her job," answered Sora.

"Others like that weird guy?" Liz asked. "Pete was his name?"

While Sora, Kid and the sisters talked, Kim followed them slowly and looking at the floor.

"Kim…" said Jackie and the pinkette looked at the lamp that was in her hand.

"What is it?" said Kim with a sad voice.

"I should be the one asking that," said the black-haired girl. "Are you sad because of what Sora said about that witch?"

Kim didn't answer immediately, but her partner was right, she was sad because Sora had also a grudge against witches.

"I thought that since he wasn't from Shibusen, he wouldn't have anything against witches, but it looks like I'm wrong," said Kim.

"Hey, just because he hates her, it doesn't mean he'll hate you," assure Jackie. "Sora's not like that."

"But still, I'm scared now," said Kim. "What if Maleficent knows about me and tells everyone that I'm one of them. I'm with a shinigami and a Keyblade wielder, I don't think they'd let me go just like that."

"Don't worry, if anything happens, I'll be with you," said Jackie to reassure her partner. "But you should act like you usually do or they will suspect."

Meanwhile the other group was fighting Heartless and moving through the castle, Maka was thinking about what Pete said when they encounter him at the door, he said that her boss, Maleficent, was in a meeting. The girl thought that it could be more witches, Medusa or even Arachne. She told the other members of her group about it and they agreed with her.

"You should have told the others before crossing the door," said Soul.

"I know, but I realized a bit late," Maka replied as she used Soul to slash some Heartless.

"She must be strong if Sora couldn't kill her yet," said Kilik when he defeated a group of Heartless with his two partner-gloves. "Her "assistant" was really lame though."

"Well, you saw Sora's reaction when he recognized him," said Harvar while Ox used him to electrocute the rest of the monsters.

"If Medusa is here," began Ox, "then this mission could be very rewarding for us and Shibusen."

Maka looked a bit worried suddenly and the Demon Scythe noticed.

"Are you thinking about Crona?" asked Soul.

"Yes," replied Maka. "If she is here I could ask her where Crona is."

"And when you say "ask her"," began Soul, "you mean "beat her up until she tells you, right?"

"More or less," Maka admitted, "I could let Sora to take care of her too."

As this group had a talk about Medusa, Black*Star was running to reach Maleficent before the others.

"Black*Star!" exclaimed Tsubaki. "Why did you start to run so suddenly?"

"Didn't you hear it?" asked the boy. "There's a witch in this castle, if I kill her and take her soul I could have a witch's soul and transform you into a Death Weapon when I recollect the other ninety nine souls."

"Sora couldn't kill her yet," said Tsubaki trying to slow down her meister, "what makes you think that it'll be different if you fight her?"

"I'll use my stealth abilities and took her by surprise," said Black*Star. "Just like the true assassin I am."

Tsubaki sweat dropped. "_I hope the others arrive before us._"

Black*Star continued running, destroying the Heartless he encountered in a breeze and after sprinting for a few minutes, he reached a dead end.

"Oh boy…" said him. "This was the wrong door."

"Then let's go back and go with the others," said Tsubaki. "I'm sure they're in the right path."

The boy turned around and when he was about to start running, he noticed a lever at his left.

"Hey look," said him. "Maybe this will activate a secret door or something; I'm going to pull it."

"Wait Black*Star, maybe you sho-" Tsubaki tried to stop him, but the boy pulled it anyway. The girl waited for the worst, but surprisingly nothing happened.

"Huh? It was a fake lever," said Black*Star and Tsubaki sighed in relief.

However something was going to happen with Sora's group, they were in a long corridor and at the end there was a huge door that Kid thought it would led to Maleficent. When they started to walk to the door, suddenly a metallic fence fell, leaving Kid and the Thompson sisters on the other side, while Sora, Kim and Jacqueline where in the side of the door.

"Not this again…" said Liz.

They tried to break the fence, but it was no use.

"Damn, what shall we do now?" said Jackie.

"Keep going," said Kid to them. "We'll find another way, or try to go with the others."

"Are you sure?" asked Sora and Kid nodded. "Fine, just be careful."

The shinigami left, leaving Sora with Kim and Jackie. The Keybearer felt a bit awkward since Kim was acting a bit weird since they entered the castle, he wanted to know what was wrong with her but also he didn't want to bother her. He continued walking while Kim followed him, keeping the distances.

"Aren't you going to talk with him?" asked Jacqueline and Kim remained silent. "You always got along with him."

"Because I felt more comfortable with him," replied Kim. "He's not a meister that wants to kill witches to help someone to become a Death Weapon, but now…"

"Kim…" said Sora who was waiting for her at the door. The pinkette startled a little and looked at him.

"Yes?" said the girl.

"I'm going to open, stay sharp, okay?" said Sora, he was more serious than usual and the girl felt bad because it could be her fault since she didn't talk to him since they entered the castle.

"Right," said Kim and Sora opened the big door and they went into the next room. Behind the door there was a wide circular chamber and at the end of it, there was Sora's enemy, Maleficent, it looks like she was waiting for them or at least for the Keybearer.

"Look who is here," said the witch. "It's been a while, Sora."

"Not as much as I'd have liked," replied Sora. "It was you the one who has been sending Heartless to Death City?"

"I don't think you're in a position to ask questions now, are you?" said Maleficent. "But yes, Xehanort told me to lure you to some place and since I don't like that Shinigami and his academy, I decided to attack their city."

"Oh, so now you follow orders from Xehanort?" taunted Sora.

"Contain your tongue before I cut it," said the witch. "My sympathies are not of your concern."

"You were in a meeting with someone, right?" said Sora. "It was him?"

"That's none of your business," replied Maleficent and then she looked at Kim who was silent all the time. "Let me say that it surprises me that you're friend of that traitor, I thought you were on the Shinigami's side."

Kim started to get nervous and almost panicked when Sora looked at her.

"_Don't tell me she is…_" thought Sora and then he noticed that Maleficent has thrown a dark spell toward the girl. The spell was too fast for Kim to dodge, but fortunately Sora used a Reflega to protect her.

"I don't care if Xehanort wants you alive," said Maleficent, "if now I have the opportunity to kill you, I'll take it."

"Sora, I…" Kim said.

"We'll have to fight, stand up," interrupted Sora without looking at her.

The witch started to glow and a green fire started to appear around her, Sora knew what was going to happen so he hoped that Kim could focus on the fight and forget about what Maleficent said to her.

While Sora and Kim were about to fight Maleficent, the other group found a dead end too and they started to frustrate since they've been walking in circles for a long time.

"I'm starting to lose my patience," said an upset Kilik.

"Maka, can't you see the witch's soul?" asked Soul.

"No, and neither her heart," said the girl. "It seems that there is also an ability to block the Heart Perception."

"They're fighting against the witch," said Ox which surprised the others.

"What? How do you know that?" asked Maka.

"I'm always aware when Kim is in danger, she's fighting against the witch, so Sora and Kid are also fighting," said the boy and suddenly an explosion could be heard

"Looks like you're right, let's go back and cross the door they used and fast," said Kilik and then the wall at their right was destroyed by another explosion, but this time it was Kid who used Liz and Patty to do it.

"Wrong way, I guess," said Liz and Patty laughed.

"Kid?" said Maka. "What are you three doing here; shouldn't you be with Sora, Kim and Jackie?"

"Yes, but we got separated," said Kid. "A fence blocked us and we couldn't go with them."

"Really?" said Kilik. "A similar thing happened to us, we had to fight some Heartless inside a cage, but then it opened and we could continue, but we're in a dead end right now."

"Sora and Kim are fighting against the witch right now," said Soul. "We should hurry instead of being chatting."

* * *

The Keyblade wielder and the Lamp Meister were fighting Maleficent who transformed into a black dragon, Sora already expected and he remembered how he fought against this form before, but the witch was now stronger than before. Kim was a bit distracted, but she could fight, however, her fire attacks weren't very effective against the dragon.

Sora hit Maleficent in the face and stopped her from using her fire breath, when she was about to strike the boy with one of her paws, Kim used Jackie to create a huge fire ball that damage the dragon's paw.

The dragon turned around and started to swing her tail, Sora jumped and Kim started to fly using her partner. Sora used Thundaga to paralyze the tail and it worked, since the dragon roared and turned to them. She aimed her head to the roof and used her fire breath to create a fire storm.

Green fireballs started to fall and some of them hit Sora and Kim, but they could recover quickly to counterattack. Sora took advantage of his position and wrapped his sword in ice and hit Maleficent in the head when he fell, causing the dragon to totter, however the witch recovered quickly, she did a spin attack really fast and hit the Keybearer with the her tail and then the dragon was about to crush Sora, but Kim was faster and could attack before Maleficent finished her attack.

"_Wollantern!_" The pinkette hit the dragon's head with Jackie who created an explosion and then another she performed a much larger secondary explosion that caused a significant amount of destructive concussive force. After that attack Maleficent had to retreat because of the damage the girls caused to her.

Sora looked amazed at the two. "You were incredible," he told them and Kim couldn't help but smile a little at the compliment.

Maleficent started to stomp the floor and created shockwaves that were directed to the two teens. Sora grabbed Kim by her shirt and dragged her to an elevated position.

"Listen, we're going to combine our attacks, okay?" said Sora.

"Wait, do you want to do a soul resonance?" asked Kim bewildered and the boy nodded.

"I know that fire attacks don't affect her much, but maybe with my fire magic and Jackie's fire techniques we could stun Maleficent and make her lose the transformation."

"It's worth a shot, Kim," said the lamp. "Let's do it."

The meister doubted but at the end she agreed to try to do the resonance with Sora. The two started to concentrate and they could feel how their souls matched easily. A white aura appeared around them for a second that confirmed that the Chain Resonance was successful.

Sora and Kim jumped toward Maleficent and charged their attacks, the boy used Firaga and the girl threw a fireball similar to Sora's spell. The two attacks combined when they got near the dragon and started to shine with a golden light. It created a huge golden fireball that could compete with Sora's Mega Flare, however the explosion wasn't as powerful as that spell but when it hit Maleficent it caused a huge damage to it and made her back away.

Before the witch could recover, Sora and Kim appeared behind her and prepared another attack.

"_Fire Combination!_" shouted the two and both swung their weapons and created a great wave of fire that could sent the dragon flying and crash against the wall and it looks like now she was unconscious.

"Did we win?" asked Kim.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, brats!" said Maleficent who was still transformed, although it seemed that the attack did its work and left her almost defeated, but she could still move.

She stood up and then used her fire breath to cover the whole chamber. Kim noticed and used Jackie again to fly, but she grabbed Sora so he wouldn't get burned. She was starting to get more comfortable with him, but the girl was still uneasy.

"Thanks!" said Sora and Kim just nodded.

"Watch out!" warned Jackie who was watching at the dragon.

Maleficent looked at them and this time she was going to use a black fire breath to make them land, but before she could execute her attack, Black*Star appeared suddenly from above and got on the dragon's head.

"Yahoo, I'm going to tame this dragon!" shouted the boy.

"What's that idiot doing?!" said Kim who didn't expect Black*Star to appear so suddenly.

Maleficent managed to get Black*Star out of her after he hit her several times with Tsubaki's Kusarigama Mode. She took the chance to try to smash him with her tail, but then an attack came from the door that Sora and Kim used.

"_Death Cannon!_" said Kid who was in the door and shot his hand-cannon and hit the dragon's head and body.

"_Aphex Twin!_" cried Kilik, he used Soul Resonance with Pot of Thunder and Pot of Fire to create a large blue ball of energy that he threw to the dragon and created an explosion when it made impact with her.

All those attacks could make Maleficent return to her normal form and that left her exposed to the next attack.

Maka entered the room with Soul in her hands, she and the white-haired boy performed the traditional Soul Resonance and created the Witch Hunt that they were going to use to kill Maleficent, however when the girl was about to cut the witch in half, she disappeared.

"Argh, we were so close!" exclaimed a frustrated Soul.

"Where did she go?" asked Kid.

The boy started to look around and Maka spotted the witch in a window and pointed at her, so the others could see her.

"Now I remember why I hate that stupid organization," said Maleficent. "All the kids of Shibusen are annoying and nosy."

"Why don't you come here and said tell us in the face?" said Soul.

"I'll retire for now, but we'll see soon, Sora," said the witch. "And be careful with what's inside you, it'll be too much for someone like you to resist."

After that, Maleficent disappeared, leaving Sora confused. He didn't know what she meant with "what's inside you" and that was making him a bit nervous, but the others reassured him.

"Surely she was just trying to confuse you," said Soul. "By the way, you didn't mention that she could transform into a dragon."

"Yeah," said Sora scratching his head. "I forgot about that, I was more focused in finding that hag and try to get some answers from her."

"Did you get something?" asked Ox.

"The only thing she told me is that Xehanort is the one who told her to send the Heartless to Death City to lure me there," said Sora. "I should have known that she was also behind all of this."

"We should thank her for that," said Kilik and Sora looked at him as if he was crazy.

"If you're saying that you like to have Heartless in your city," he said, "then I'll have to hit you in the head so you recover your common sense."

"I mean that if there weren't Heartless in Death City," explained the Pot Meister, "you never would have come."

"He's right," said Tsubaki smiling. "If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be friends now."

Sora smiled. "Yeah, although there was a possibility that another Keyblade wielder had come to Shibusen, you know?" said Sora. "Besides, if the people at my home told me that a boy in a suit and with three white stripes in his head was looking for me, I think I would be interested in knowing him."

"Saying it like that, you make me look like if I'm some kind of stalker…" said Kid.

"You don't know who was with Maleficent before we arrived, right?" asked Maka.

Sora shook his head. "She didn't want to tell me obviously," he replied.

"I'm going to investigate this place," said Kid while he walked to a door that at the right. "If witches use this place for meetings maybe I can find something out."

"Wait, we'll lend you a hand," said Maka, Tsubaki, Ox and Harvar who were following him.

"I'll leave the investigation for the eggheads," said Black*Star.

"Yeah, I'm going outside to get some fresh air," said Kilik as he walked, along with Soul, Fire and Thunder, to a door who led outside and Black*Star and the Thompson sisters followed him.

Now the only people who were in the chamber were Sora, Kim and Jackie. The Keybearer was about to cross the door to follow Maka and the others who went to investigate, but then he thought that he should talk with Kim about what Maleficent said. He took the doorknob and closed the door so no one could see them and he turned to look at the two girls.

Kim started to walk backwards because Sora had a serious expression on his face that she didn't like and scared her. Kim usually was a tough girl, but now that Sora knew what she was she felt vulnerable. The boy was walking to them, when Jacqueline stood in front of Kim to protect her.

"Sora, please," she began, "don't do anything to Kim. I know that you hate that witch, Maleficent, but Kim is not like her."

Jackie knew that she didn't stand a chance against Sora, but she was willing to protect her meister no matter what.

Then Sora realized why Kim was more distant and self-conscious, she was scared of him, the girl didn't want the others to know that she was a witch too since they would spurn her. Sora started to feel bad for her, but he was also sad because his friend feared him, it was the first time that happened and Sora started to feel like if he was some kind of monster and then he started to feel light-headed again.

"I…I'm sorry," said Sora which took the girls by surprise, they didn't expect him to apologize since he didn't do anything bad so the two started to feel confused.

"Why did you say that?" asked Jacqueline.

"At first I didn't know why Kim started to be more distant," said Sora, "but after hearing Maleficent, I understood the reason of her behavior and I'm sorry. I know that I can be scary when I get serious on a fight or when it comes to Xehanort, but just because I hate Maleficent, it doesn't mean that I hate you Kim."

Kim didn't say anything, she just listened carefully what Sora had to say.

"I don't know many witches," continued Sora, "but I'm sure that most of them are like you, nice people that care a lot about their friends. I felt horribly when I saw that you were scared of me so I'm really sorry; I hope that you can forgive me since you're my friend and that's the only thing that matters. I understand why you need to keep that as a secret so don't worry, I won't tell anyone about it."

"Wow, Sora that was…" said Jackie but she stopped when Kim ran and hugged Sora tightly. The Keybearer was taken aback by this, but he was glad that she was now the Kim he knew, although hugging was something that doesn't suit her.

"Thank you Sora," said the pinkette, "thank you so much."

"K-Kim, what are you doing?" asked Jackie who was blushing a little.

"Thanking Sora for being so sweet," replied Kim whose cheeks were also a bit red. "_Plus it's a good excuse to hug him._"

"But you're embracing him…" said the black-haired girl, still flustered for her meister's act.

"If you also want to, just do it," said Kim. "I won't stop you."

"N-no, well…I…" Jacqueline stopped talking because she couldn't find a proper answer. She also wanted to hug Sora for being so good with Kim, but she didn't do it.

"_Man, maybe Donald and Goofy were right,_" thought Sora, "_I always get mushy when I'm around a girl._"

The pinkette noticed that Sora had a tired face and she thought that could be because of the attacks of Maleficent during the fight, but actually it was that he felt dizzy, just like before encountering Pete. Kim let go of him and started to use her magic to heal him and Sora started to feel great.

"Hey, now I feel much better," said Sora surprised. "How did you do it?"

"I'm a tanuki witch," she said a little embarrassed, "my spells specialize in healing and regenerating abilities. I was cast out of the witch society because of that, my magic goes against the instinct for witches to use their magic in destruction."

"Tanuki…" said Sora and he remembered the day at the market when Kim got upset with Tsugumi and Meme because they tried to sell her a jacket with the tanuki ears on the hood.

Kim saw how Sora started to smile with the word "tanuki" and that started to bug her.

"I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking," said her. "If you are, I'm going to charge you for my healing services."

Sora laughed. "Okay, sorry."

The people who went to investigate returned to the chamber, Sora looked at them an asked if they found something about witches.

"Yes, but not about someone that we know," answered Kid. "Where are the others?"

"Outside, waiting at the entrance," replied Jackie.

"And you three?" asked Tsubaki.

Sora and the two girls didn't know how to answer that question, but fortunately Ox said something before the others started to suspect.

"I knew it," said the boy and they looked at him. "Sora, I know that Kim is a beauty, but if you want to court her, you and I will need to have a duel to the death for her love."

"What are you saying idiot?!" said Kim.

"Okay, I think you're getting the wrong idea," said Sora sweat dropping.

"Harvar, you'll help me, right?" said the Spear Meister.

"A duel to the death?" repeated Harvar. "Sorry, but count me out, I am sensible enough to know how this is going to end."

"Hey, sorry to cut the chat, but we should leave this place before the madness start to affect us," said Kid.

"Oh, so you also noticed," said Jackie. "It's higher than at Death City, right?"

"Madness…" muttered Sora, he remembered what they explained to him about the Kishin when he ate at Maka's house. "That would explain it…"

"Explain what?" asked Maka.

"When we were in the forest, I started to feel sick," replied Sora. "It was the first time I felt like that, but I thought it was just a small dizziness."

The others started to worry, specially Kid, he didn't knew that madness could affect Sora since he was a Keyblade wielder and he assumed that the sword would protect its master, but maybe it was too much for Sora to handle at the moment.

"But you're feeling fine now, right?" asked Kim and Sora nodded.

"We better go before something bad happens," said Harvar who was walking to the door that led outside and the others started to follow him.

Sora summoned his Keyblade and started to remember the Mark of Mastery Exam and how he was fooled by Xehanort.

"_I almost fell to the darkness,_" he thought and he made the sword disappear. "_I hope this doesn't affect me._"

* * *

**I can't kill Maleficent since, like JMG16 said in his review, she will surely appear in Kingdom Hearts III and if she dies here it would be like a paradox or something. I remembered the scene of chapter 84 of the manga where Kim hugged Stein so I thought it'll be fine to put a similar one here. The end of this story is near, I'll try to make at least three more chapters, but the other Darkness will appear in the next chapter…or not, but I'm sure that all of you already know who is going to fight against Sora.**


	18. The Young Nemesis

_**The Young Nemesis**_

Three of Sora's enemies have appeared during his mission in Death City, now the only thing the boy has to do is wait for the last one, the Darkness he had to fight, but this time it wasn't for the Heartless since after Maleficent left, the Heartless activity, according to Azusa, has decreased significantly. However, Sora didn't leave since the deal was to pass Xehanort's test and the Heartless would disappear, so he thought that if he leaves, it will aggravate the situation and endanger the city more than before.

Sora was worried about the city, but there were other people that were more worried about him, particularly Kid. The shinigami went to talk with his father about Sora the day after the team returned to Death City.

"So, he said that he felt sick," said Shinigami-sama.

"Yes," replied Kid. "I thought that the madness wouldn't affect him, but it seems that even Keyblade wielders can be influenced by it."

"It's normal," said Shinigami. "As you know, there is madness in everyone, even gods of death like us have it, but we're very resistant to it. Let me ask you something, did Sora get sad, angry or something like that?"

"No, he was pretty calm during the mission," answered the boy.

"All of you have been at his side, right?" asked the headmaster again. "He has ever been alone during the mission, hasn't he?"

"There was a time when we split up, but Sora was still with Kim and Jacqueline, so he was always with someone," said Kid who started to suspect that his father was hiding something.

"Very good then!" said Shinigami-sama with a funny voice. "We'll just need to keep an eye on him to make sure that he's doing alright!"

Something was wrong, but Kid decided to not ask his father about it since the boy knew that he'd only avoid the question. Meanwhile Sora was walking around Shibusen, he passed near the cafeteria and saw Black*Star and Kilik telling some students about certain with who could transform into a dragon and how they defeated her. Sora laughed at the scene and then he continued his walk and he ran across with Maka's father who has a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Hey Sora, how are you doing?" said Spirit. "I've been told that the mission wasn't very successful."

"More or less," replied Sora after returning the greeting. "At least now the Heartless are gone, that's taking a burden off my shoulders."

"That's true," affirmed the man. "Listen, I would like to ask you a favor if you're not busy at the moment."

"Sure, what is it?" said Sora.

"Shinigami-sama is waiting for me right now," explained Spirit, "so I'd like you to give this coffee to a man called Joe Buttataki."

"Of course," said Sora as he grabbed the coffee, "but who is…"

Spirit was already gone when Sora was asking him something; it looks like he was in a hurry since he left as soon as Sora grabbed the coffee.

"…Joe Buttataki," finished Sora and sighed.

While the Keybearer tried to find out who was Joe Buttataki, Maka and Soul were in the library, the girl wanted to return the book about Keyblade wielders since she didn't need it anymore and because Sora was more informative than any book, as long as you could get the answers out of him. As the Scythe Meister exited the library, followed by her partner, she looked at a paper that he grabbed from her pocket; it was a photo of Crona.

"_Where are you?_" thought Maka.

"It has been a while since Crona disappeared," said Soul who saw Maka looking at the photo. "Maybe we should start looking for him on our own."

Maka put the photo in her pocket again. "That would be a good idea," she said. "You know, we should take a picture with Sora, a group one with the others."

"How so?" asked Soul.

"We don't know how long it will be until we meet again," she said. "It would be nice that we all had something to remember him, right?"

Soul chuckled. "That was really corny," said him which made Maka felt a bit embarrassed. "But you're right, it would be nice and he will also have something to not forget about us."

"Hello Maka-chan, Soul-kun," said Tsubaki who just crossed a door and saw the two walking to her. The meister and her partner returned the greeting and suddenly they started to hear some noises that came from outside the academy.

"What is going on?" asked Soul.

"Well, you see…" began Tsubaki, "Black*Star and Kilik were telling the people at the cafeteria about the fight against the witch and they ended up arguing about who was the one who did more damage to her."

"And I guess that the arguing became a fight," said Maka and Tsubaki nodded.

"Now that you mentioned, yesterday was an interesting day, huh? I totally didn't expect to find a witch," commented Soul. "And I thought that it was going to be Sora's last mission here."

"Yeah, a lot of things happened," said Maka. "Black*Star got what he wanted, he did a Chain Resonance with Sora, although it was a normal one. How it felt, Tsubaki?"

The black-haired girl thought for a moment, trying to remember the Soul Resonance they did when Pete made a Behemoth appear.

"It was really easy," replied Tsubaki. "But I didn't feel anything different, it was just like being with him, it felt natural. Besides I already sensed his soul when he grabbed me during the fight he had with Black*Star the day we met."

"Ah, that's true," remembered Maka. "He left us open-mouthed when he did that."

"He also did a Soul Resonance with Kim," mentioned Soul which surprised the two girls.

"How do you know that?" asked Maka.

"I saw Kim telling that to Sora's fangirls just to annoy them," said Soul. "I admit that it was really funny."

"Fangirls?" said Maka confused. "Since when does Sora have fangirls?"

"You didn't know? I thought you were a member of his fan club," bantered Soul and he received a Maka-Chop right in the head.

* * *

After Sid guided him kindly, Sora arrived at a door that led to where Joe Buttataki were, he opened the door, but instead of Joe, the woman known as Marie Mjölnir was inside the room.

"Umm, excuse me, Ms. Marie," said Sora awkwardly since he didn't want to disturb her.

The young woman saw him and a smile appeared on her face. "Oh, it's you Sora, come in," she said and the boy entered the room. She walked to him, put her hands on his shoulder and looked closely at him.

"Tell me, how are you?" asked her with a kind expression on her face. "Are you feeling alright?"

Sora was surprised and nervous, he found strange that she suddenly started to ask if he was fine but it wasn't something that bothered him either, he knew that Marie was really friendly and kind so maybe she was just being herself, but what he didn't know is that there was a good reason for her concern.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Sora told her. "And you?"

The blonde didn't expect him to return the question, but they had similar personalities so it was normal that Sora also asked about it.

"I'm great," replied her still showing a warm smile. "So, what do you need? Are you looking for someone and you got lost?"

"Spirit told me to give this coffee to a man called Joe Buttataki," answered Sora. "Is he here?"

"Oh, he just left," Marie said. "But don't worry about the coffee; he doesn't like the coffee of Shibusen. Would you like to meet him? I can help you find him."

"I don't want to bother you…" said Sora but Marie started to push him out of the room.

"Don't be silly, let's go," said the woman as they exited the room. "Besides I'd like to stretch my legs."

The Keybearer walked with the young woman around Shibusen, at first she was a bit lost, but Sora knew the way so they could arrive at the main hallway of the academy. Sora didn't know why, but he felt calmer around Marie and actually that's the reason he's with her.

Those who know Marie are aware that her soul wavelength is peculiar in that it's noted to have a calming effect upon other people, which can be used to quiet the madness that resides within them and Shinigami told Spirit to lure Sora to her so he can be more relaxed until his next fight, nobody wanted him to be consumed by madness and Marie was someone who could be a great help for that.

Now Spirit was in the Death Room, telling Shinigami-sama that Sora should be with Marie by now.

"Good, I hope that helps the boy," said Shinigami.

"You know that he'll end up finding it out, right?" said Stein who was also in the room. "And probably it'll be too late when that happens. I don't think that we should keep hiding the truth."

"Come on, don't be like that," said Spirit. "The boy has already a lot of things in his head…"

"Now, now, let's change the subject," said the headmaster. "How is the investigation going?"

"Joe hasn't found the spy infiltrated in Shibusen yet," said the Death Scythe. "He decided to interrogate some students to see if they have seen someone suspicious."

* * *

Marie and Sora were still walking around the academy, he felt like if they were just wandering in circles. After half an hour of walking they arrived at the Class Crescent Moon, Sora could hear how someone was in the class. Marie opened the door and the Keybearer saw Maka, Soul and Tsubaki talking with a man. He had close-cut hair and wore a white shirt that has rolled up sleeves and a black waistcoat with black shorts.

"I hope we're not interrupting," said Marie.

"Marie…don't worry I've already finished here," said Joe.

"Hey Sora, where have you been?" asked Soul.

"I was having a walk with Ms. Marie," replied the Keybearer and then he felt a hand on his shoulder. Sora turned his head to see Joe looking at him.

"Excuse me, you're Sora, right? The Keyblade wielder who is helping Shibusen," said the man.

"Yes, that's me," replied Sora.

"If you don't mind I have to check something," said Joe and then he put his fist on Sora's chest. The boy was confused, he didn't know why Joe was doing this, but the other people in the room did.

"Joe, that's not necessary," exclaimed Marie, but BJ continued what he was doing.

"There are evidences that confirm the presence of a spy in Shibusen," said Joe without moving his fist away from Sora's chest. "Have you seen someone suspicious in the academy during your mission here?"

It was true that Sora has seen Xigbar and Maleficent, and he also saw one figure with a black coat during one of his patrols although that could have been an illusion. However none of them were in Shibusen so his answer was clear.

"No," he said, "I haven't seen anyone suspicious."

Sora expected that the interrogation was over, but Joe had one more question.

"Are you a spy?" asked him. The others started to get nervous; it was obvious that Sora wasn't a spy sent by Arachnophobia or Medusa, but Joe was called to investigate so he was just doing what he was asked to.

"Of course not," Sora answered and Joe removed his fist from the boy's chest.

"You didn't have to do that," Marie told Joe.

"Marie, you know what is my job here," said BJ. "Time ago, there was a lot Keyblade wielders who worked in the shadows and they know how to go unnoticed. However after seeing his soul, I can tell that he's not like them."

"Are you okay, Sora?" asked Maka who saw that the boy was nervous.

"Sorry if I startled you with those questions," said Joe. "I hope you understand the situation."

"Yeah, don't worry, you did well," said Sora and Joe's face turned serious which confused the people in the class.

"What happen?" asked Marie.

"A soul just appeared from nowhere," he said. "There's someone climbing the stairs that led to Shibusen's entrance. How come I haven't sensed it before?"

Joe has earned the reputation of having the most advanced Soul Perception in all of Shibusen, so he found strange that a soul just appeared from nowhere.

"Hey," said Soul and everyone looked at him. "Sora's gone."

* * *

Black*Star and Kilik were having a duel without weapons in the courtyard, Kid, the Thompson sister, Fire and Thunder were watching them along with Sid who was the witness.

"Those two don't give up," said Liz. "Shouldn't we stop them?"

"We can't interfere in a duel," said Sid. "Especially when Black*Star is one of the fighters."

Kid watched the fight half-interested, he was still thinking about the madness and his father. He knew that something was off and he wanted to ask him about it, but he didn't know how since Shinigami-sama can be very secretive and dodgy. Suddenly he felt the presence of someone and then he saw that someone just climbed the stairs that led to where they were. It was a boy who was the same age as Sora, maybe a year older but it was difficult to tell. He had dark skin and silver hair, but what Kid noticed the most was the black coat he was wearing.

"There's someone there," said Sid.

"Kid…" Liz said nervously. "That coat…"

"Yeah, he's the one," said Kid. "It seems that the time has come."

Black*Star and Kilik were still fighting but when the person in black coat approached them, the boys stopped.

"Hey man, where having a duel here," said Kilik.

"Are you acquaintances of Sora?" asked the boy. "If so, tell him to come here."

"Are you a friend of Sora?" asked Black*Star. "Then I'll introduce myself, I'm the great Black*Star."

The boy in black didn't look interested in the two students, he just wanted to see Sora so he didn't answer Kilik's question.

"I have no interest in you," said the boy. "Just tell Sora that I'm waiting for him."

"What did you say?!" said an annoyed Black*Star who was about to punch the person in the face, but suddenly he was sent flying to where Kid and the others were. Kilik tried to defend the blue-haired boy but he received the same attack.

"Kilik, Black*Star, are you okay?" asked Sid who helped them to stand up.

"Who the hell is that guy?" asked the Pot Meister.

"I'm going to kill him," said Black*Star but someone put a hand on his shoulder and he stopped to look behind him.

It was Sora the one who stopped Black*Star from attacking the boy with silver hair. The Keybearer was followed by the people who were with him in the class. Kim and Jacqueline were also there since they saw them and the girls wanted to know what was going on.

"Sora, he is…" Kid began but didn't finish since it seems that the Keybearer wanted to say something to everyone.

"Don't interfere," he said bluntly and with an expression on his face that the others have never seen. It was clear that Sora had to fight alone so everyone stood where they were while the Keybearer walked to the boy with the black coat.

"Have they started already?" asked Stein who just arrived along with Spirit.

"How did you know that…" said Marie but Spirit interrupted her.

"We saw it through Shinigami-sama's mirror," he said. "Black*Star, Kilik, are you two hurt?"

"It wasn't much," said Kilik while Black*Star just watched how Sora approached his enemy. "But we couldn't even see his attack, he was just standing there and then we flew away."

"That guy," began Kim, "has something that is similar to Sora, but I don't know what."

"It seems that Sora knows that boy," said Sid. "I wonder if they had fought before."

Meanwhile Sora looked at his enemy, remembering what he did during his Mark of Mastery Exam and how he almost turned into one of them. He started to feel that sensation of sickness but he just ignored it, he needed to be more focused on Xehanort's young self.

"Fancy meeting you here," said Sora sarcastically.

"You knew I'd be the one coming here," said Xehanort without changing the expression on his face.

"And I'm glad," replied Sora. "You and I have a score to settle."

"I see that you're still upset because of what happened during your test," said Xehanort. "But that made you more cautious and therefore stronger."

"I hope you're not expecting me to thank you," said Sora still with that sick sensation. He wondered why now that Xehanort is here, that feeling returned since he was feeling fine the whole day.

"What I'm expecting are good results," replied the dark Keybearer, "you still have to gather more Lights to…"

"Save it, I've already heard enough speeches about the balance between light and darkness and what you call "tyranny" of light by now," interrupted Sora. "Let's get this over with."

Sora summoned the Kingdom Key and grabbed it tightly, he was still feeling light-headed but he couldn't let that sensation distract him now.

"As you wish," said Xehanort and he summoned his Keyblade, the one that he used to fight against Riku.

When Xehanort summoned a Keyblade, the people who were at the entrance of the academy had astonished expression on their faces since they couldn't believe what they were looking at.

"This has to be a joke…" said Soul.

"Hey, is that...a Keyblade?" asked Kilik who was starting to feel worried.

"Who could that person be?" said Kid intrigued.

"Xehanort," said Spirit without beating around the bush and the students looked at him with wide eyes.

"Wait, wasn't that the name of…" said Kim.

"Sora's main enemy," finished Stein.

"But that doesn't make sense," said Kid. "According to what Sora told us, Xehanort is an old man."

"I've been investigation about him a little and I had a private conversation with Sora this morning," said Stein. "He told me that his friend Riku fought against that person during a test they were having."

"That guy mentioned that Sora was still upset about the test…" said Ox.

"The boy who is now in front of Sora is Xehanort when he was a teenager," explained Stein. "Sora told me that Riku explained him something about time travel and how the young Xehanort traveled to the future to help his older self."

"Is that even possible?" asked Liz. "Time travel seems too unrealistic."

"Even Sora found difficult to believe when he was explaining me about it," said Stein.

"But according to Shinigami-sama," continued Spirit, "that's the way Xehanort looked when he was young, plus he has a Keyblade so it must be true. The only thing we can do now is to wish him luck."

Sora looked at Xehanort who was prepared to battle; he hoped that he could win since he wasn't feeling fine so he was going to try to end the fight as soon as possible. He grabbed his Keyblade tightly and then ran to his opponent.

Xehanort didn't move when Sora started running, he just waited for him. When Sora jumped to hit him from above, he teleported just before Sora could land his attack. He appeared behind the spiky boy and used his Keyblade to hit Sora's back.

Sora recovered from the attack and ran again to his enemy, both of them started to attack the other with their own Keyblade. Every time Sora saw an opening to hurt Xehanort, the dark Keybearer just dodge his sword and counterattacked. Sora intercepted Xehanort's blows but he was finding difficult to keep up with him. He was even more powerful than he thought, but he wasn't going to give up.

The Kingdom Key started to glow and transformed into a large blade made of light, Sora was going to use his technique known as _Ars Arcanum_; it was one of his most powerful attacks it might work. Sora started to perform several strikes with an amazing speed, however Xehanort blocked every blow and when Sora was doing the last attack, Xehanort used his Keyblade to trap Sora's and that left the boy immobile.

While Sora tried to free his sword, Xehanort used his free hand to use a Blizzard spell that froze Sora's right arm and sent him away. Sora retrieved his Keyblade with his left hand and used a Fire spell to unfreeze his limb. Before Sora could attack, Xehanort started to throw dark energy waves to him. Sora dodged the energy waves and Xehanort took advantage and ran to him, he started to swing his Keyblade and Sora tried to block him and one of Xehanort's attacks disarmed him. Sora looked how his Keyblade flew away and when he looked at Xehanort again he started to receive powerful blows from him. You could see how dark energy came out from Xehanort's Keyblade and that Sora was being seriously damaged by it.

The Keyblade returned to Sora's hand, but he was starting to feel even worse, those attacks affected him in a strange way. He looked at his opponent and then he threw his Keyblade to him. Xehanort parried the Keyblade, but what he didn't expect was to see Sora running to him without a weapon. Sora punched the young Xehanort in the face and then he retrieved his Keyblade and sent him into the air. Xehanort recovered in the air and looked for Sora, but he was now above him.

Sora sent a light blast from his Keyblade that sent Xehanort to the ground, however the silver-haired boy stopped his fall before landing and then he transformed his Keyblade in a whip that he used to grab Sora's wrist. Sora tried to free himself but it was no use, Xehanort started to make him crash to the ground several times. When Sora tried to use a spell to hit Xehanort, the dark Keybearer just moved his transformed Keyblade to make Sora hit the ground again.

Before Xehanort could use the same move again, Sora stuck his Keyblade in the ground and used his own strength to make Xehanort move from his position. Both of them struggled and Sora managed to free himself from his enemy's Keyblade. This time the one using an Arcanum technique was Xehanort; Sora was being hit several times by Xehanort's Keyblade that was wrapped in darkness and he could even react. The sensation of sickness was a lot worse than before and now his chest was aching. Xehanort grabbed Sora's head and slammed him to the ground, Sora tried to stand up and Xehanort shot a Dark Firaga with his hand and burned Sora's back and made him stay on the floor.

When Xehanort was about to thrust his sword into Sora, the spiky boy used a Firaga that hit Xehanort's face and made him move back. Sora slowly got up and started to cough and he was dumbfounded when he looked at his hand. He saw blood, but instead of red, it was black. He wondered why his blood had that color and then he remembered the day when he ate at Maka's house and his friends told him what happened in the city before his arrival.

Xehanort started to use a powerful ice spell. Huge blocks of ice appeared around Xehanort and then it was Sora the one surrounded by them. Sora could avoid being crushed by them, but then the ice blocks started to pursue him and each block hit him in his body. After that, Xehanort created a tornado using an Aero spell and Sora was trapped in it. The boy was sent into the air by the tornado and suddenly a lot of black orbs appeared near to him. Sora used Reflega to cover when the orbs created lasers that were directed to him, however the lasers could break the spell and went through Sora and the boy fell to the ground.

Sora couldn't believe the beating he was receiving from Xehanort, Riku could win against him so he didn't understand why he couldn't, it wasn't normal that he was weaker than before. He started to stand up; his body was covered with bruises and cuts, besides he was feeling like if someone was hitting his head with a bat and he started to cough again. He spat more black blood, he wondered how did he get that thing but now he was too tired to think. Sora saw how Xehanort walked toward him; he couldn't even look at the people who were watching the fight, they put their hope in him and he barely hit Xehanort more than once. He felt useless and now he was going to die because of it.

Now Xehanort was just in front of Sora and the spiky boy swung his Keyblade really slow, trying to fight back but he was drained and Xehanort just turned sideways to dodge the sword. The dark Keybearer used his sword to attack Sora who didn't even try to block and the spiky boy slid across the floor. A normal boy would have given up, but Sora wasn't like that, he tried to get up, but Xehanort put his foot on Sora's head and pushed him hard to the ground again, Sora tried again but Xehanort did the same thing to stop him from getting up.

Xehanort grabbed the hood on Sora's jacket and threw the boy away. The people watching the fight had to look away every time Xehanort hit Sora, the brown-haired boy didn't fight back anymore and it was difficult to tell if he was still conscious.

"H-He's trashing him…" said Marie with watery eyes from seeing the fight. Spirit hugged her with one arm, trying to calm her, but he was also astonished at the result of the fight.

"I…I can't keep watching this…" said Soul who was now looking at the floor, unable to see his friend suffering like that.

Maka was speechless, she saw the heart wavelength of Xehanort and the different between Sora's and his was overwhelming. She couldn't look at Sora either; it was too much for her to bear.

Kim was leaning on Jackie's shoulder, not wanting to see the boy who accepted her as a witch die, it was too much for her and Jackie tried to comfort her but she was also looking away from the battle that turned into a beating.

"This can't be," said Kid, not wanting to accept Sora's defeat. "There has to be something wrong with Sora."

"Hey, we can just stay here looking how that bastard kills Sora!" exclaimed Kilik. "I'm going to help him!"

"I'm going too," said Ox. "This is not a duel or anything, we must interfere."

"Don't even think about it," said Black*Star who was sat on the floor without looking away from the courtyard.

"What are you saying?!" asked Kilik with disbelief and anger in his voice. "Are you going to stay here and let Sora die?"

"He's not going to die, it's too soon for that," said Black*Star. "Maybe you guys have lost your hopes, but I still trust in him. He'll be able to turn the tables somehow."

"But Black*Star…" Tsubaki didn't know what to say, she also wanted to help Sora, but after what her meister said she started to doubt.

"Shinigami-sama said that he was the Chosen One or something like that, he can do things that the other Keyblade wielders can't," continued Black*Star. "We won't interfere unless that Xehanort tries something funny."

Sora knelt on the ground, looking at his Keyblade that was in front of him, he wasn't able to continue and Xehanort was walking toward him.

"I expected much more from you," he said. "I don't know what happened to you, but I don't care anymore. Maybe I should pay a visit to those kids who trained with you before you came to this city."

Sora didn't have the strength to say anything else; he just heard what Xehanort was saying, but when he mentioned his friends he started to feel something inside him.

"I've heard that the little princess is also training to become a Keyblade wielder," said Xehanort. "Too bad that we can't turn her into one of us, however I'll make sure to tell her that you died here."

When Xehanort mentioned Kairi, what was inside Sora started to move faster, he didn't know what was happening to him but it wasn't something good for him or anyone who was near him at the moment. He was in pain all the time and he ended up losing his consciousness.

"Someone so weak won't be necessary for our plans," said Xehanort. "Goodbye, Sora."

Xehanort was about to thrust Sora's heart, but suddenly Sora stopped the Keyblade with his hand when it was near his chest. Xehanort didn't expect that, he thought that he was unconscious but it turns out that he was awake. A sinister smile appeared on Sora's face and then he grabbed the Kingdom Key and used it to send Xehanort away with a really powerful blow.

Xehanort recovered and looked at the light Keybearer standing up like if he wasn't hurt at all, although Sora's body was still covered with the wounds of the previous battle. Sora was laughing like a maniac while he stood up.

"How can you be moving after all that?" asked Xehanort intrigued.

Sora was still laughing crazily which made Xehanort charge at him and nailed his Keyblade on Sora's shoulder. The spiky boy removed the sword from his shoulder using his hand and then he punched Xehanort in the face so hard that the silver-haired boy almost fell backwards; Xehanort couldn't believe the strength that now Sora had, it wasn't normal. Sora touched the wound that he just got and looked at his hand.

"Hey look, my blood is black," said Sora with a mocking voice. "Do you like it? It's dark like you."

The students looked at Sora with wide eyes, Maka and Soul couldn't believe what was happening, even Black*Star didn't expect this kind of change. They didn't know what was worse, Sora being tortured by Xehanort or him being possessed by madness.

"When did he get black blood?!" asked Soul. "How did he get it?! It's impossible!"

"You knew this, right?!" said Kid staring at the adults. "Why didn't you tell us anything?!"

"So that was the reason he wasn't at his full potential during the fight," said Ox who looked bewildered at the crazy Sora.

"It's my fault…" said Maka with a low voice. "The resonance we did, he got the black blood with the Heart-Soul Resonance, that's the only explanation."

"Then it's my fault, not yours," said Soul. "I'm the one who have black blood and…I…"

Soul didn't know what to say, he felt miserable, he infected Sora with the black blood he had in his body and now the madness has possessed him.

Spirit put his hand on her daughter's shoulder trying to calm her, he knew it was difficult to assume that Sora had black blood and he was sure that now she was feeling guilty.

"I know that you two now think that you have done something horrible to him, but that just saved his life," said Stein. "If it weren't for the black blood, Xehanort would have killed him."

"Let's hope that Sora can control it," said Kid. "Otherwise, we will be in big troubles."

Xehanort looked at the dancing Sora; the boy had a crazy expression on his face and was grabbing the Keyblade by the keychain and was making the sword spin.

"Okay," said Sora and then he grabbed the Keyblade correctly. "Let's play."


	19. Madness and Darkness

_**Madness and Darkness**_

After taking a beating at the hands of Xehanort, the black blood inside Sora was activated which caused the boy to fall into madness, but thanks to that now it was Sora the one who was giving a beating to Xehanort.

Sora walked stumbled towards Xehanort, doing strange and unpredictable movements. Xehanort attacked with his Keyblade, but Sora ducked and got behind him and when the silver-haired boy turned, Sora hit him with a hard backhand. Xehanort recovered from the blow and tried to hit Sora again, he made a horizontal slash with his sword quickly, but Sora leaned back and dodged the attack. Xehanort was unprotected so Sora rested his hands on the floor to take impulse and then he kicked Xehanort with a great force.

Xehanort could cover himself from the kick, but even so he still received a lot of damage. It was as if Sora's body was covered with steel. The dark Keyblade wielder teleported in front of Sora and hit him on the stomach with his Keyblade, when the sword hit the Sora's body, you could hear sound like two metal bars clashing. Sora looked at Xehanort and smiled in a sinister way, he began to laugh again, as if the blows didn't hurt him or simply because he didn't care about them. Sora grabbed Xehanort's Keyblade and pulled to bring Xehanort closer and the he sent him flying backwards with a kick. Now Xehanort's Keyblade was in Sora's hand.

"Your Keyblade is cool, you know?" Sora said in a childish way as he watched Xehanort's Keyblade closely. "However, I prefer mine so you can have this one."

The spiky boy grabbed the sword's keychain and threw the Keyblade to its wielder with an incredible speed that before Xehanort could react, he had his own weapon stuck in his torso. The silver-haired teen grabbed his Keyblade and took it out his body while Sora continued laughing.

"Ouch, did that hurt?" the crazy boy bantered. Xehanort just looked at Sora with an expression that was between disbelief and intrigue, he couldn't believe that after defeating Sora so easily now the boy was as if nothing had happened and fought a very strange way, as if all the fear was gone from his body.

Xehanort began to prepare a Blizzard spell to try to immobilize Sora; however the brown-haired boy also prepared something to counter his spell. Sora's Keyblade started to glow with fire and then all that fire concentrated at the tip of the sword. Xehanort look dumbfounded at Sora since he knew the spell he was going to use.

"Burn!" said Sora with a happy tone and then a huge fire explosion covered the whole area. If Sora was sane, he wouldn't have used Mega Flare but now he wasn't a person who thinks before acting. The explosion destroyed a small part of the academy's façade so Kid would have started to scold Sora for destroying the perfect symmetry of Shibusen, but he and the others were more focused on covering from the spell which, fortunately, only hurt Xehanort.

"What kind of fight is this?" said Kilik.

"Sora is winning now," said Ox, "but he seems so different and his battle style is very weird."

"It is similar to when we fought against Crona, right?" said Soul looking at Maka who just nodded.

"The reason why Sora was losing is because he was fighting Xehanort and trying to resist the black blood at the same time," said Stein, "however Xehanort's dark techniques had an effect on the black blood and Sora ended up giving in."

Mega Flare was one of the most powerful spells so Xehanort was seriously damaged by receiving the attack at such close range, but he could still continue fighting. He stood up and then transformed his sword into a whip again and did the same as before, but this time Sora had much more strength so it was Xehanort the one who was beaten to the ground repeatedly now. Xehanort's Keyblade recovered his normal form; it was useless to damage Sora with physical attacks so the dark Keybearer had to change his tactic. Xehanort used his Keyblade to shoot dark magical bullets at Sora, but the brown-haired boy dodged them while he walked towards Xehanort wobbling and laughing. Before Sora could attack, Xehanort launched a Triple Dark Firaga that hit Sora's chest and made him fell to the ground, but he stood up immediately and laughed more.

"Wow, I feel so great!" said Sora and suddenly his Keyblade disappeared from his hand. "Oh, how strange, don't you think?"

Suddenly a dark aura was around Sora's body, the level of darkness in his body was increasing, it wanted to take over his body, but the madness had more control now. Sora's hair started to dye black and his whole body did the same, however his eyes were still blue. The darkness inside Sora tried to activate his Anti Form, but the madness was blocking the transformation so instead of losing control, now the crazy Sora had the power to control his dark appearance, although it won't make any difference since the actual Sora behaved like when Sora used his Anti Form.

"Amazing!" said Sora as he looked at his body. "Now the color of my body matches the color of my blood!"

"You've lost your mind," said Xehanort looking at the half-Heartless Keybearer.

"About time you noticed," replied Sora and then he jumped backwards and flew forwards to attack Xehanort. The silver-haired boy knew that Sora was now more vulnerable to the Keyblade since he was now half-Heartless, but that didn't mean that Sora was weaker. Before Xehanort could use his Keyblade, Sora created a rope with darkness that immobilized Xehanort's arm and then Sora grabbed his head and smashed it on the ground repeatedly.

"C'mon, I'm like a Heartless and you are a Keyblade wielder," taunted Sora. "You should eliminate me, or are you too weak for that?"

The dark Keybearer teleported behind Sora and tried to pierce him with his sword, but before the Keyblade could touch his body, Sora ducked and put his hands on Xehanort's body and shot a blast of dark magic from each hand that made Xehanort crash against the spiked structure of the academy. Sora's enemy cut the spike and threw it at him and when the spike was near Sora, he jumped to it and used it to reach Xehanort who used a Fire spell to knock Sora down, but he parried the spell with his bare hand and then punched Xehanort in his face, kneed him in the gut, hit him with a somersault kick and grabbed him to throw the dark-skinned boy to the ground.

Before landing Xehanort turned around and threw several dark energy blasts with his Keyblade, but Sora created with his hands a great ball of dark energy that he launched at Xehanort and when the ball hit him, it created another explosion, but it wasn't as big as the one with the Mega Flare. Sora landed and started to walk toward Xehanort and when he was near him, he started to kick him.

"Who is the dull and ordinary boy now, huh?" said Sora with a crazy voice. "You're a Keyblade wielder who can't beat someone who isn't even a full Heartless, how pitiful."

Sora's bantering angered Xehanort and he started to attack him continuously while Sora dodged his attacks without even trying, but then Xehanort could hit Sora's body. He cut Sora's chest and black blood started to stain the floor; however that wasn't good for Xehanort since then dark spikes came out of the blood pool and pierced his body. After that, a burst of darkness that Sora created ripped Xehanort and carried him into the air, then Sora teleported behind Xehanort and kicked him back to the floor. Sora landed on Xehanort with great force to assure that he won't stand up. Sora's darkness and madness turned him into someone rather cruel and that scared his friends.

"Heartless…" muttered Black*Star, he was someone who had the senses more heightened so he could hear what Sora and Xehanort were saying and told the others what they said.

"He looks like a Heartless," said Liz.

"And now he's the one being cruel," said Stein.

"I know that Xehanort deserves it," said Kid. "But seeing Sora acting like that…"

"If the fight doesn't end quickly," said Soul, "He will have troubles."

"Don't worry," Maka said and the students looked at her confused. "We're talking about Sora, he's one of the strongest people I know and I'm sure that he will be fine wherever he is now."

* * *

"Where am I?" asked Sora. He was in a completely dark area with his eyes closed and then he landed on a platform that was the similar to the one where he fought Roxas. He looked at the stained glass pillar and saw that the image in the floor was different, instead of having a picture of Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy, it had the pictures of the people he had met during his mission in Death City and then he started to see in his mind what was happening outside. He saw his Anti Form or at least the black blood version of his Anti Form and how he was acting like a crazy person while he beat Xehanort.

"Man, that's embarrassing…" muttered Sora. "At least he is getting what he deserves."

"Besides, it's not that different from how you normally are," said someone behind Sora.

Sora turned around and saw a blond boy wearing a black coat and he recognized him immediately.

"Very funny Roxas," said Sora and the blond smiled. "What is this place?"

"It is said that people have a space in their heart for each friend," said Roxas.

"I see…" said Sora looking at the stained glass. "Do you know what happened to me out there?"

"Black blood," replied Roxas and he continued before Sora could ask how he got it. "When you did that special resonance with Maka and Soul, you got infected with it. I think that they already know it so surely they are feeling really guilty now."

"Well, if the black blood hadn't affected me, Xehanort would have killed me," said Sora who didn't want to blame his two friends.

"That's true," said Roxas, "but you could have won the first fight if you hadn't been trying to resist the black blood. I tried to help you, but it was overwhelming and then your darkness started to compete with it to take the control."

"What can I do now?" asked Sora.

"The darkness affects the heart while the madness affects the soul," explained Roxas. "As you know there's darkness in every heart and it's the same for the madness."

"Then the only thing I can do is to canalize them, right?" said Sora.

"Right," said Roxas and a door appeared behind him. "The black blood made the darkness in your heart to increase, so if you find a way to decrease the level of insanity in your soul, the darkness will do the same, besides you always had a great light in your heart so it won't be a problem."

"So when I cross that door," said Sora. "I'll have to try to stop the madness and that will make the darkness to decrease and I'll return to normal."

"Yes, but there's a problem," said Roxas. "The moment you cross the door, your Anti Form will deactivate and your body will lose consciousness. I don't think Xehanort will wait for you to wake up, but maybe I can do something to buy you time although your body is really damaged now."

"Don't do anything too risky, okay?" said Sora and Roxas smiled and nodded.

Sora opened the door and crossed it. Roxas saw how the door disappeared and then he sighed, he didn't know how Sora could get into all these messes and still being the way he is, but that's what everyone liked about him.

Meanwhile in the courtyard, Anti Sora kept crushing Xehanort as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Sora ran to Xehanort who catching his breath, but suddenly he stopped which Xehanort and the people watching the fight found strange. The dark form of Sora disappeared and now everyone saw Sora's normal appearance and then he fell to the ground, however he started to get up immediately after hitting the ground but he was doing it very slowly.

"Dammit, his body is more damaged than I expected, I won't be able to fight back like this," thought Roxas, he took control of Sora's body to protect it while he tried to solve the problem with the madness, but his body was too damaged and Roxas could barely move.

"I didn't expect to see you Roxas," said Xehanort who was starting to get up.

"To be honest, I didn't even wanted to see you," retorted Roxas.

While Roxas and Xehanort talked, the students of Shibusen tried to hear their conversation.

"What are they saying?" asked Jacqueline.

"Black*Star, can you hear them?" Tsubaki asked.

"Xehanort called Sora "Roxas"," said Black*Star bewildered and the others started to get confused too since no one knew Sora's nobody. "Besides, Sora's voice has changed when he returned to normal."

"His soul is different now," said Kid.

"What are you talking about?" asked Liz. "Can people change their soul just like that?"

"Kid's right," said Maka who also used Soul Perception. "It has some resemblance to Sora's soul, but it is clearly the soul of a different person."

"Keep quiet," said Black*Star. "Let me listen to them, maybe I can hear something important."

Roxas used a Cure spell to heal Sora's body, he could get up but the body was still too damaged to fight at his full potential.

"I've got to say that I'm impressed," said Xehanort. "I didn't know that Sora was that powerful when he used his darkness. If you see him, tell him that he passed the test, however now that I know that he can use the darkness so well he could still be one of us so if you don't mind, I'm going to take his body to our headquarters."

"_I should have guessed that this was going to happen,_" thought Roxas as he started to walk backwards since Xehanort was approaching him. Xehanort started to run to knock Roxas out, but when he was near Sora's body a giant Shuriken made him stop and jump away. Black*Star grabbed the Shuriken and stood between Roxas and Xehanort.

"I don't know what's your deal," said Black*Star, "but you're not taking my friend with you."

The other meisters also ran, with their partners in their hands, to where Black*Star.

"Dammit Black*Star, you could have told us that you were going to interfere," said Kilik.

"Excuse me," said Maka looking at Sora's body. "You are…"

"Roxas," said the boy who controlled the body of the brown-haired Keybearer.

"Who are you exactly?" asked Ox.

"I don't think this is the best time to give explanations, Ox Ford," said Roxas and the boy in glasses looked at him surprised, he didn't expect that Roxas knew his name.

"If you don't want to die, move aside," said Xehanort to the students.

"You said that Sora passed the test," said Kid, "so you don't have more business here, if you plan to take our friend with you, we won't sit back and do nothing."

"Maybe we're not as the same level as a Keyblade wielder," said Harvar.

"But we won't let you touch him," finished Jacqueline.

Roxas looked impressed at Sora's friends, they were really brave to say those kinds of things to Xehanort and he knew that they were strong enough to help him.

"Listen," began Roxas, "Sora is now trying to solve the problem with the madness and his inner darkness, I took control of his body to buy him some time but it's too damaged and I won't be able to fight properly so I'll really need your help."

The fourteen students remained silent for a moment when Roxas said that and then they started to laugh and he didn't understand why.

"I hope that's a yes," said Roxas.

"Sorry," said Maka still laughing. "It's just…"

"We didn't think we would hear the words "I'll really need your help" from Sora's mouth," finished Soul who also found the situation funny.

"I guess even he needs help from time to time," said Kilik.

"Since Sora is the one who needs help, I'll do it for free but tell him to not get used to it," Kim said.

"We'll do our best, Roxas," said Ox.

"I already wanted to fight this guy anyway," Black*Star said while he grinned at Roxas.

"Sora has been always helping us since he came to Death City," said Kid and then he smiled at Roxas. "I would really like to return the favor."

"Leave it to us, Roxas-kun," said Tsubaki.

"Yeah, we've been looking forward to this," Liz said and her sister agreed.

Roxas laughed slightly, Sora sure knew how to choose his friends. They were willing to protect him no matter what and the blond was glad for it. He looked at Xehanort who heard all the conversation they had and it seems that he was decided to take Sora's body with him.

"You leave me no choice then," Xehanort said as he raised his Keyblade. "Time Stop!"

While Roxas and the Shibusen's students were about to fight against Xehanort, Sora was walking around an area that was totally black. He looked for a way to control the madness inside him, but there was nothing around until he found what it seemed to be a soul. He approached the soul and looked closely at it.

"This is Roxas'…" muttered Sora and then another soul appeared and Sora walked to take a look at the new soul. He didn't know to whom this soul belonged but then he remembered the girl with black hair that he saw when he was trapped in the nightmare during his exam for becoming a Keyblade Master.

"So this is hers," said Sora. "Why is it here?"

Sora started to feel sad for some reason, but he continued walking and he found another soul. This one was covered with black blood so Sora deduced that it was his. He approached it and touched it and suddenly he started to feel as if someone was pushing himself to the ground. He had to remove his hand from the soul, but he tried again and this time he didn't remove his hand. After a few seconds he appeared in his Station of Awakening and his soul was at his side.

"Here again…" Sora started to look around but he didn't find anything out of order, just his soul that was still covered with black blood. Suddenly someone appeared before Sora and the boy couldn't believe who he was looking at.

"Riku?" said him astonished. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not Riku," replied the person who was the exact copy of Sora's best friend. "I'm just the part of you who is in charge of guiding you when you, for example, lose your sanity. You could say that I'm like your conscience."

"Then why do you look like Riku?" asked Sora confused. "Is there a reason?"

"I just took the appearance of him because is someone you feel comfortable with," said the fake Riku. "I can look like everyone you know."

When Sora's conscience said that it started to transform into some of Sora's friends, but Sora told his conscience to stop doing that. Now his conscience had the appearance of the boy known as Joshua.

"_That appearance is surprisingly fitting for some reason,_" thought Sora. "So…why are you here?"

"As I said, I'm here to guide you," said Joshua. "Do you remember the dream you had before you get the Keyblade?"

Sora thought for a moment, it has been a long time but he remembered that dream perfectly and how Kairi hit him in the head when he told her about it.

"Yeah, why?" asked Sora.

"Remember how three people with the appearance of Tidus, Wakka and Selphie asked you three questions?" said Joshua. "This is going to be something similar to that."

"So you are going to ask me questions and that will make the black blood disappear?" asked Sora.

"More or less," Joshua said. "The black blood is something that can't disappear so easily, but with this, it will stop bothering you and then your darkness will stay under control again."

"Alright then," said Sora who was prepared to answer any question. "Let's begin."

Meanwhile Roxas and the others struggled to keep Xehanort in check, but even with the whole group, Xehanort managed to keep up with all of them since some of his wounds healed after he used his powers to manipulate time.

"It's true that this bastard can control time," said Soul while Maka used his scythe form to attack Xehanort. He dodged every swing of the scythe and then he sent Maka away with a hit from his Keyblade.

"Take this you dark creep!" exclaimed Black*Star, he was about to strike Xehanort with Tsubaki's Uncanny Sword Mode, but the silver-haired boy blocked the dark sword with his Keyblade. Black*Star struggled and tried to break Xehanort's guard and then Kid appeared from behind and started to shoot at the dark Keybearer. Xehanort grabbed Black*Star to use him as a human shield, the same thing Sora did in the training class so Black*Star knew how to escape from him. The boy's shadow blocked Kid's bullets, grabbed the Keybearer and threw him into the air. Ox, Kilik and Kim were at Xehanort's level and they took the chance to attack him.

"I'm all fired up! _Triple F!_" exclaimed Kilik and with Pot of Fire covered with flames, he punched Xehanort, but the Keybearer could block him. Then it was Kim turn to attack, she used Jackie's lamp form to create several waves of fire that hit Xehanort since he was still blocking Kilik.

"It's my turn, _Lightning King Drill!_" said Ox and he struck Xehanort with anti-air thrusting technique, however Xehanort used a Reflect spell and when Harvar touched the crystal shield it created an explosion that knocked the three meisters down.

Xehanort landed and then he ran to Roxas, however Maka got in his way and sent him back with a powerful swing of the Witch Hunt and she managed to protect Roxas. It looks like all the attacks from the meister were effective since Xehanort was as damaged as before they got into the fight, however they were even more wounded than him.

Xehanort teleported behind Maka, but before he could do anything to her, Roxas blocked him with his Keyblade, he was using the Kingdom Key since he didn't have enough control to summon a more powerful one, but at least he had enough energy to block Xehanort's blows. The dark Keybearer started to attack Roxas continuously and made him move back. Roxas was unable to counterattack, but fortunately Black*Star came to his aid and started to swing his sword at Xehanort who started to charge a spell and then an explosion of dark fire covered the whole area and damaged everyone except the caster.

"We'll lose at this rate," said Kid as he got up. "He's at least as damaged as before."

"But we're even worse, much worse," said Kilik. "If that bastard hadn't used that frigging clock to heal his injuries we would be in a better shape than now."

Roxas looked how the meisters were all covered with wounds and he was starting to get worried, if Sora didn't hurry, they might die. Now Sora was in front of his conscience, waiting for the question that he had to answer.

"Are you afraid of the man called Xehanort?" asked Joshua.

Sora thought about it, he wanted to answer that he wasn't scared of Xehanort, but if he answered incorrectly it wouldn't help him to heal his soul. The truth was that he was scared of him since he almost made him fall into the abyss and transformed him into one of the thirteen Darknesses. He always tried to show his friends that he wasn't scared of him so they wouldn't worry but it wasn't true.

"Yes," answered Sora and then the black blood of his soul started to fall from it.

"Do you know the reason why the madness affected you sometimes?" asked the conscience.

"Every time I thought about Xehanort or about what happened in my exam, the madness affected me because I'm scared of him," said Sora. "I didn't want to admit that I was scared and tried to reject the fear and that left me more vulnerable."

Mora black blood fell from Sora's soul as he talked.

"Then, when I found out that Kim was a witch and that she was scared of me," Sora continued, "I realized that I also could become into someone like Xehanort, a monster that doesn't care about the others and just want to achieve his goals."

Sora's soul was almost clear of black blood after he tell his conscience about the fear of being a Keyblade wielder like Xehanort. He was starting to feel better as he talked.

"Do you really want to be a Keyblade wielder?" asked the Joshua look-alike.

"At first I was hesitant about it, it was like my destiny was in the hands of another person," answered Sora. "But with all the things that have happened since I became a Keyblade wielder cleared up my doubts, there are a lot of people that are waiting for me to help them, so I'll make sure that I don't become into a person like Xehanort and not even the darkness or the madness will stop me from my objectives since I'm the one who is in charge here."

The remaining black blood of Sora's soul fell and now it started to shine, the whole area started to illuminate and then the soul disappeared.

"Congratulations, the first step to overcome your fears is to identify them," said Joshua smiling. "Now that you've accepted your fears, the madness shouldn't affect you like it did before."

"And what about the darkness?" asked Sora.

"It returned to normal, but that's something that you still have to work out, like Riku did," said Joshua. "But I'm sure that you will prevail. By the way, don't forget that the black blood is still inside you, but as long as you follow the right path you will be fine."

"All right, I'm ready," said Sora.

"Then go," Joshua told him. "Your friends have been buying you time, so you better don't let them down."

* * *

Xehanort looked at the students of Shibusen, they were worn out and Roxas was it too, all of them have been beat by the dark Keybearer, although they also caused damage to him, but now he was going to use the same technique as before to recover himself.

"Time Stop!" said Xehanort and then he vanished and a big clock appeared in the middle of the courtyard.

"Shit, not that again," said Kilik who was in pain and almost unable to move.

"I…I won't let you do that again!" cried Maka as he grabbed Soul and started to run towards the clock. Her body ached badly, but she couldn't let Xehanort heal again so the girl had to ignore the pain and try to do something. Maka and Soul performed a Soul Resonance and when the scythe's blade grew, the meister swing her weapon and tried to break the clock. It was really hard and she was about to pass out, but she remembered how Sora got up every time Xehanort smashed him at their first fight so she wasn't going to give up either. Suddenly, the scythe managed to break through and could break part of the clock.

"Amazing," said Kid. "She managed to break it."

The clock stopped, but then Xehanort appeared in front of the girl who was too tired to move and the silver-haired boy pushed her back with an Aero spell from his hand and she fell near the other meisters.

"I don't know how you did it," said Xehanort, "but you're going to regret it."

Two large blades made of blue light energy appeared in Xehanort's hands and he wielded them with a reverse grip. He ran to Maka to finish her off, but when he was about to thrust her with the blades, Roxas appeared between them and sent Xehanort away with a powerful blow.

"Are you okay, Maka?" asked him.

"That voice…Sora?" said the girl when she realized that it wasn't Roxas' anymore.

"Yeah," replied him.

"Took you long enough," said Black*Star who was in the floor immobile. "I prepared the stage for you so try to make a good show."

"Right, thanks everyone," said Sora. "Now let me take care of him."

"But Sora, your body is still…" said Maka when she saw that the Keybearer's body was really injured.

"It doesn't matter," said him. "You guys are hurt too, but you didn't give up so I'm going to do the same, besides he's as damaged as me."

"You would be more powerful if you let the darkness take the control," said Xehanort as he prepared for Sora's upcoming attack.

"Sorry, but that's not going to happen," said the Keybearer. "I'm my own master now."

Sora ran to his enemy as he threw Fire magic at him, the silver-haired boy blocked the spells with his blades with an amazing speed and Sora took advantage of his distraction to attack him, but Xehanort was impossibly fast when he used those blades and could hit Sora, however when the blade touched Sora's body, he disappeared which surprised Xehanort.

It turns out that what Sora wanted to attack was the clock behind Xehanort since he started to break it with his Keyblade, but Xehanort threw a fire x-shaped blast at Sora to keep him away from it. Sora jumped to dodge the fire magic, he could break the clock more, but it wasn't enough. Xehanort dashed across the area and began to use his blades to cut Sora, his attacks were insanely fast and Sora could barely dodge them all so he got more wounds than before.

Sora didn't give up and used his Keyblade to block one of the blades and with his free hand he grabbed the arm of Xehanort that wielded the other one. He threw the dark-skinned boy to the clock and then he prepared the move he used to defeat Black*Star in their first fight.

"_Zantetsuken!_" said Sora and then he cut across Xehanort and the clock. The brown-haired boy could break the clock, but Xehanort was still kicking and this time he summoned his Keyblade again.

"You are a nuisance," Xehanort said while he got up clutching his chest.

"I'm glad to hear that from you," said Sora as he smirked.

Xehanort teleported behind Sora and swing his Keyblade at him, but Sora turned around quickly and blocked his attack with his sword just using one hand. The dark Keybearer tried to push Sora back. However, the boy didn't move from his position, instead he was the one pushing Xehanort back. Sora broke the other Keybearer's defense and used his _Ars Arcanum_technique to hit him repeatedly, Xehanort tried to block the blows like he did before, but Sora was stronger now so he received the whole combo. Sora did an upper slash that knocked Xehanort into the air and then he jumped to use the special move called _Ragnarok_. After the combination attacks, the tip of Sora's Keyblade started to create a great sphere of energy that started to shoot lots of magical bullets that hit Xehanort's body and caused an explosion.

The dark Keybearer recovered on the ground and used an Aero spell that made Sora land, then he used the Fire spell _Raging Storm _which created three fire columns around him and ran to Sora. The brown-haired boy waited for him and when he saw a space between the fire he went into them to grab Xehanort and throw him out.

Before Xehanort could recover, Sora raised his Keyblade and started to gather energy. The Keybearer started to glow with a bright light that blinded the people in the area.

"Such a powerful light," said Spirit covering his eyes.

"It's totally different from before," Marie said.

"I don't know what he has done, but now the boy has more confidence and is stronger," said Stein with a small smile on his face.

"_Faith!_" said Sora and six columns made of light emerged from the floor surrounding him. The columns started to grow and when they were ready, Sora sent the circle of light pillars outwards to harm Xehanort. The attack was incredibly powerful and when Xehanort was trapped between the pillars, they created an explosion of light that defeated him completely making Sora win the fight.

Sora panted, his body was aching really badly with all those wounds, but fortunately he won before fainting. Xehanort was now looking at him half interested. He created a dark corridor and started to walk with difficulty to enter in the corridor.

"I was…wrong about you…" said Xehanort when he was in front the dark path. "You are one of the Lights…without a doubt. Don't waste time and go to wake my old self's former apprentice, all the Lights must be prepared for the war."

Sora was about to ask who was he talking about but Xehanort left Death City using the corridor he created before he could ask. Sora sighed and turned around to smile at his friends and they returned the smile.

"Is…everyone all right?" asked Sora who was about to pass out. All of them gave him a thumb up and Sora grinned, he did the same gesture and then he blacked out.

* * *

**I don't know how it'd sound Sora's crazy laugh so I just imagined Vanitas laughing. Anyway I hope you liked this chapter, the next one will be the last.**


	20. The Farewell

_**The Farewell**_

Sora opened his eyes slowly, he was a bit disorientated, however he remembered what happened, he fought against Xehanort's young self and then passed out after defeating him. He was in a hospital room, lying on a bed without his jacket, gloves and shoes so he deduced that he was in Shibusen's dispensary, maybe the adults who were watching the fight brought him there. Sora was the only one in the room, so his friends must be healed already and he wondered how much time had passed since he blacked out.

The boy looked at his left, he could see through a window that it was early and he also saw a small table with things on it at the side of his bed. There was a small blackboard with his student card on it, Black*Star's autograph written on it was also there along with some candies that, according to Sora, Patty could be the one who put them there. In front of his bed there was a cabinet full of medicines, all of which were arranged symmetrically.

"_Only Kid would have done something like that_," thought Sora sweat-dropping.

The door at the right side of the room opened and a dark-skinned woman crossed it, she was covered with bandages and wore a nurse uniform. She noticed that Sora was awake and greeted him.

"Oh, good morning Sora," she said. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yes, thanks Ms.…um," Sora wanted to thank her since it seems that she is the person who has been taking care of him, but he didn't know her name.

"My name is Mira Nygus," she said. "I'm Professor Sid's partner and the assistant of Dr. Stein as Shibusen's interim nurse. I've heard a lot of good things about you so I'm glad that we finally met."

"Likewise and thanks for taking care of me Ms. Nygus," said Sora. "Could you tell me how long have I been here?"

"Your fight against the boy with silver hair took place the day before yesterday," said Nygus. "All the meisters who fought him recovered the same day, but you have been sleeping until today."

"I see…I'm glad they are okay," Sora said.

"They have come to visit you frequently," said the woman. "It seems that they care a lot about you."

"Yeah, they are great," said Sora smiling a little. "Ms. Nygus about the black blood…"

"I wanted to talk to you about that precisely," she said. "Dr. Stein has done some analysis and it looks like the black blood inside you has stopped moving, as if something was blocking it. He told me that it was something that you did therefore you shouldn't have problems with that blood anymore. Anyway, you're feeling fine, right?"

"Yes, I feel great," Sora answered.

"I'm glad," Nygus said. "By the way, Stein has already explained to the others about how your black blood is now disabled, so don't worry about giving explanations and don't be too hard on Soul and Maka."

"I wasn't planning on blaming them or anything," said Sora. "All this gave me experience and now I'm stronger than before so I should thank them instead."

"Sid was right, you're a good boy," Nygus said which made Sora feel a bit embarrassed. "Your wounds have also healed very quickly, at first I was surprised but Sid told me that you can use healing magic so I thought it was normal."

The Keybearer found strange that all the wounds of his body had disappeared so quickly, it was true that he could use Cure spells, but not when he was unconscious, but then he remembered a certain girl with pink hair who could use healing magic.

"_I have to thank her for it,_" thought Sora and then he started to get up.

"Are you sure you want to get up already?" asked Nygus. "Don't you want to rest more?"

"Don't worry," assured Sora with a smile. "Besides, I think that I've slept enough."

"Very well then," she said. "You should tell Shinigami-sama that you've already woken up so don't forget to pay him a visit, okay?"

Sora nodded as he put his clothes on, then he walked to the door, he needed to stretch his legs before going to the Death Room and he also wanted to see if he could find his friends. While he walked around, Soul, Maka, Black*Star and Tsubaki were entering the academy.

"Hey, let's skip class and go to see how is Sora doing," said Black*Star. "Maybe I should write my autograph on his face to see if that makes him recover faster."

"Please don't do that, he'll get angry…well no," Tsubaki said remembering that Sora isn't someone who get upset easily. "Just don't do it, okay?"

Soul and Maka didn't talk a bit, both of them were still thinking about the black blood issue and felt guilty about it, they didn't know how to face Sora now, but they will have to do it eventually.

"Are you two still thinking about what Professor Stein said?" asked Black*Star who noticed that Maka and her partner were very quiet. "His black blood can't do anything now, you should be glad."

"Still it was our fault that he almost got killed by Xehanort…" said Maka with a low voice while he looked at the floor as she walked. "Surely he hates us because of it…"

"Who hates you?" asked someone. The Scythe Meister looked up to see a recovered Sora in front of her, he was looking at her and Soul and she started to get nervous since the girl didn't know what to say. Soul saw that Maka didn't talk so he decided to be the one talking although it didn't had a good result since he didn't know what to say either.

"Sora…we are-" said the boy, but the Keyblade wielder interrupted him.

"Thank you," he said and Soul and Maka looked really confused at him. "If it were not for you, I wouldn't have been able to fix a problem I had with myself that could have ended up killing me, so don't even think about blaming yourself for what has happened since you've done me a great favor."

Both students were speechless, they didn't understand how Sora could be so forgiving and kind, another person wouldn't have said the same thing and now they realized how lucky they were to be his friends.

"Wow, I…well, just thanks man," said Soul, but Maka was still quiet and suddenly she embraced Sora in a hug which at first surprised the Keyblade wielder but then he returned the hug.

"Thank you, Sora," said Maka who was crying a bit but no one noticed. She was really worried since now three of her friends had black blood inside them, but Sora wasn't the kind of person that ditches friends.

"Boy, this girl is always so sappy," said Black*Star.

"Anyway, we're happy to see that you're healed," Tsubaki said giving Sora a warm smile.

"Yeah, this gets boring without you around," Black*Star said as he and Sora high-fived.

"Yay~ group hug," cheered Patty who saw Maka hugging Sora and she wanted to do the same. She was being followed by her older sister and Kid.

"I see that you had a perfect recovery, I'm glad," said the shinigami.

"We were worried when we saw that you were still sleeping," Liz said.

"What can I say, I've been always a lazy bum," Sora joked and the others laughed. Suddenly the Keyblade wielder felt someone tugging his pants and when he looked down he saw Fire and Thunder who were happy to see him. The spiky bot let go of the two girls who were hugging him and crouched to greet the two kids. Their meister was also approaching the group followed by Ox, Kim and their weapon partners.

"Hey, good to see you Sora," Kilik said as he and the Keybearer fist-bumped.

"I'm glad that all your wounds are healed now," Ox said. "You were pretty injured after the fight."

"Yeah, you could say that I had a miraculous recovery," Sora said, then he winked discretely at Kim and the girl looked away while blushing slightly. "I'm going to see Shinigami-sama, do you want to come?"

The fourteen students followed Sora to the Death Room, when they arrived at the room they were greeted by Stein who was talking with Maka's father. The redhead went to hug Maka right after he saw her, but the girl chopped him and sent him away with a bump on his head. Marie was also there and when she saw Sora, she immediately went to hug him and you could tell by Sora's face that she was using too much force.

"Ah, Sora, I see that you woke up," said Stein as Marie let go of the Keybearer. "Did Nygus tell you about…?"

Sora just nodded, he didn't want to mention the black blood since Soul and Maka were still a bit uneasy although they already now that he wasn't mad with them. The Keybearer looked at Shinigami-sama who was staring at the boy intensely.

"Good job, Sora-kun!" he said with a funny voice and doing the victory symbol. "My old pal Yen Sid didn't joke when he said that you were the best at your job."

"Yen Sid?" asked Soul curious.

"Former Keyblade wielder and my actual master," Sora answered which surprised the others.

"He must be really powerful," Kid said wondering how the former Keyblade wielder would look.

"Anyway, as I said, you did a splendid job," Shinigami said. "Although I didn't expect that Xehanort would come here, you knew how to keep him in check at the end and you did a good job against the Heartless too!"

"If you let me Shinigami-sama, there's something I'm still curious about," Stein said. "Sora, during the fight you lose consciousness and another person took control of your body, according to the kids his name was Roxas, do you know him?"

"_So that's what he did,_" thought Sora. "Yeah, of course I know him."

"Could you tell us who is he?" asked the doctor. "I'm sure that everyone would like to know more about him."

Sora sighed since he was previewing another round of explanations although he didn't mind at all, besides he was sure that Roxas would like him to tell them about him, they were his friends too after all.

"Do you remember what I explained you about Nobodies?" asked Sora and the doctor answered with a yes. He and Sora had a private talking the day Xehanort appeared, the doctor investigated a lot about the Heartless and about Xehanort and he asked Sora to explain him some things since he was probably one of the people who knew more about those subjects.

"What is a Nobody?" asked Ox and Maka at the same time, they were also curious and had interest in knowing more about the Nobodies.

"If someone with a strong heart and will becomes a Heartless," explained Stein, "a Nobody will be also created. A Nobody is like the body of the original self but without a heart, however recently Sora discovered that the Nobodies retain a small part of their original self's heart and end up developing their own."

"Roxas is my Nobody," said Sora and everyone looked astonished at him.

"Hey that's cool, you have him to watch your-," Soul said but he stopped when he realized that something was wrong about what Sora said. "Wait a moment, if you have a Nobody, then you…"

"I've been a Heartless," Sora finished what Soul was about to say and the people in the room looked at him with worried and dumbfounded faces.

"Okay, that's new, you didn't tell us about that," Harvar said.

"Wait, during the fight against Xehanort you looked like one," Jackie said. "Was it there?"

"No, that was just the side effect," Sora said.

"Could you tell us about it?" Stein asked who found Sora's story really interesting.

"Sure, I've already broken that rule completely so I don't mind telling you about what happened," Sora said.

"What rule? Are you breaking a rule?" asked Maka. She always has been someone who followed the rules strictly so she wanted to know what Sora meant when he said that and Shinigami-sama explained what was that rule.

"The meddling rule," he said. "It's supposed that only the Keyblade wielders should know about other worlds since most of them are in charge of protecting them. Basically you shouldn't even know that Sora-kun is here, but since I know about other worlds and I told you about it, that doesn't matter anymore."

"What a silly rule," Black*Star said. "If I were a Keyblade wielder, I'd make sure to tell everyone that I'm around."

"Even if you're not a Keyblade wielder you would do that anyway," Soul said and then he looked at Sora. "You can start when you're ready."

Sora nodded and started to tell them what happened with Kairi when his home was destroyed by the Heartless and how he traveled to look for her and Riku. He told them how she lost her heart and how the heart went into his body. The most difficult part was when he told them about Riku and how Xehanort's Heartless possessed him and then he explained them how he freed Kairi's heart to complete the Keyhole of Hollow Bastion and how she later could make him return to his normal self.

"That's how Roxas was born, I guess," said Sora and when he looked at the people who were listening to, he saw that they had different expressions, the boys were smiling at him mischievously while the girls looked at him touched and with admiration. Sora was starting to get nervous with all those stares.

"I didn't expect less from you," Spirit said smiling.

"What?" Sora was now more confused and then Marie grabbed his hands and looked at him.

"Good job Sora," she said. "When it comes to love you have to work hard and that girl is very lucky to have you at her side."

Sora's face started to get red. "Hey, wait a moment, I think you misunderstood the whole story!"

"I don't know, from the way you said it she looks more than just a friend," teased Jacqueline.

"It seems that you also have a princess to court," Ox said to Sora while he looked at Kim who rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, it's not-"

"Who would have guessed the mighty Keyblade Chosen One had a love interest," Kilik joked.

"I think it's cute," Tsubaki said.

"Become into a Heartless for a girl," Stein said. "I've never understood love, but I can tell that she has a special effect on you."

"Give me a break…" said Sora.

"By the way, you mentioned Xehanort's Heartless," Kid said. "Then he has a Nobody, right?"

"Indeed, his Nobody is called Xemnas and created an organization of thirteen Nobodies," answered Sora after the blush disappeared from his face. "Roxas was in the organization as the last member."

"Roxas was with the bad guys?!" Black*Star exclaimed.

"Not exactly," Sora said. "As Prof. Stein said, at first it was believed that Nobodies didn't have a heart, but Xemnas knew that it wasn't true and tricked many Nobodies into joining his organization, but unfortunately for him, some of them betrayed him and Roxas was one of them."

"That sounds more reasonable," said Kid. "Besides he wouldn't have helped us if he was one of Xehanort's allies."

"Well, let's not talk more about this," said the headmaster. "We'll leave it to Sora and his fellows Keyblade wielders and I'm sure they will prevail. Now Sora…"

"Yeah, it's time to go," finished him.

"Aww, are you going to leave already?" said Patty. "What about the party?"

"What party?" asked Sora a tad confused.

"We planned to have a party in my house to thank you for everything you've done," Kid clarified. "It's in your honor so do you think you could stay one more day with us?"

"Well, I guess it wouldn't harm to stay here one more day," Sora said with a smile on his face and the others returned it, glad that he could stay a bit more.

"I'm glad to hear that," said Kid. "You'll have to dress formally and if you let me cut your hair…"

"That's drawing the line," said Sora covering his hair. "I don't have formal clothes either."

"Don't worry about that," said Liz grabbing Sora's left arm. "Patty and I will take you shopping and choose a suit."

"Yeah, let's go!" said Patty grabbing Sora's right arm and the two sisters started to drag him out of the Death Room much to the amusement of the other students.

Later the party at Gallows Mansion began and a lot of students attended to it, the atmosphere was very calm despite Black*Star shouts. Sora was eating some food that looked really delicious, he was very relaxed although that was easy after the fight he had recently. The Keybearer saw how Patty and Black*Star were gobbling the food and he found the situation funny, although there were some people who were looking at them with weird faces.

"Sorry about those two," said Kid who approached Sora when he was looking at Patty and Black*Star. "I know is a bit difficult to calm down when they are around."

"Not really, this is probably one of the most relaxing moments I had in a long time," Sora said. "Besides, there's always someone who is crazy in a party."

"You're not wrong," Kid said smiling and suddenly Kilik appeared behind them.

"Hey Sora, how are you doing?" he said. "Let me say that you look weird dressed like this, it doesn't suit you, you'd look better with your normal clothes."

"What are you saying?" said Liz who heard him. "He looks really handsome, right Patty?"

"Yup, c'mon Sora, let's dance," said Patty and she dragged him to where some people were dancing.

"This girl is a bit rough sometimes," Kid said.

Meanwhile Soul and Maka looked how after dancing with Patty, a lot of girls were asking Sora to dance with them. The poor boy was being cornered by the female students and Soul couldn't help but laugh.

"He sure is a ladies' man," Soul said although Maka didn't look amused.

"They are all over him," she pouted. "I also want to dance with him."

"Then why don't you ask him instead of waiting here?" asked Soul but Maka didn't answer and Soul sighed. "I don't understand you."

"I still don't believe he forgave us for the black blood," Maka said.

"Yeah, he's a good friend," said Soul. "Although I didn't understand what he meant with fixing a problem he had with himself, but I'm glad that he's all right."

"Right…" said the Scythe Meister. "Do you think we'll ever be able to go to other worlds?"

Soul looked surprised at her partner, he didn't expect that question although he had to admit that he also wanted to visit different worlds.

"Who knows?" he said. "First we should fix the problem with the Kishin, don't you think?"

Sora was sitting on a chair after dancing with a lot of girls; fortunately Kim and Jackie could save him from them although the two also wanted to dance with him which made Ox jealous.

"_Man, I'm tired but at least this was easier than those dances in Atlantica,_" thought Sora while he rested, then Tsubaki approached the spiky boy and sat next to him.

"Sora, I wanted to thank you for what you've been doing for Black * Star these days," she said but the Keybearer didn't understand what the girl meant. "Before you arrived, he has been acting a bit weird, you know that he's someone who loves to win and lately he lost his victory strike with some people."

"I'm one of those people?" asked Sora.

"Yes," she said, "but when we met and you won against us, I thought that he was going to continue acting like that, but surprisingly after fighting you he changed a little, he started to be like he was before that slump. I don't know how you did it, but I'm really grateful."

"You're welcome," Sora said smiling at the girl. "But, you know, I think that he should take a break."

"Actually, I planned to take a trip with him to visit my parents, Shinigami-sama gave me the green light," Tsubaki said. "Please don't say anything, I'd like to be the one telling him."

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed," said Sora as the rest of his friends approached him.

"Hey Sora," began Soul, "I'd like to know how you got here, what do you use to travel around the worlds?"

"I use a spaceship," Sora said bluntly.

"..." Sora's answer left him speechless for a second. "Are you serious?"

"Really, is a big spaceship," Sora repeated.

"Then you are an alien?!" Black*Star exclaimed.

"Don't you remember that he is from this world?" asked Kid hopelessly and Black*Star laughed.

"These two weeks have gone really fast," Liz said. "We're going to miss you, Sora."

"We'll meet again, I'm sure of that," said the Keybearer.

"When you return, we can play another basketball match," Soul said.

Sora looked at him with suspicious eyes. "Are you trying to cheat me again?"

"Of course not, Captain Sora," replied him with a smirk on his face and the others laughed.

"Sora, let's make a deal," Black*Star said. "When you defeat that Xehanort guy and I kill the Kishin, we'll have another duel to see who is stronger."

"_Who said that you were going to be the one who defeated the Kishin?_" thought everyone sweat-dropping.

"All right, it's a promise," Sora said and he and Black*Star shook hands.

* * *

The Keyblade wielder was now in the Gummi Ship leaving Death City, the day after the party he went to Shibusen to say goodbye to everyone and before he left, Maka told him that everyone wanted to have a photo to remember him and Sora thought that it was a good idea. He looked at the photo; everyone was there, the students, the teachers and Shinigami-sama. He really enjoyed his stay in Death City and besides it helped him to become stronger than he was, he really wanted to visit them again in a future.

When he was halfway to the tower, the Gummi Ship started to emit a sound; it was an incoming call from somewhere. Sora picked up the call and saw Riku on the screen.

"Hey Riku, what's up?" Sora said, happy to see a familiar face.

"I can't complain, how about you? Did you finish your mission in Death City?" Riku said.

Sora grinned. "Yup, the city is safe and clear of Heartless," he answered. "I'm heading to the tower now."

"That won't be necessary," Riku said and Sora looked at him confused. "Yen Sid told me to inform you about another world under the Heartless attack."

Sora sighed since he was hoping to see his friends again, but first things first. "Where and how bad is the invasion?"

**THE END**

**(To be continued in The Guild's Light Warrior)**

* * *

**My first story is finished; I've got to say that I really enjoyed writing it so I hope enjoyed reading it. There will be a "sequel" in a future, I'm going to write a fanfic called "Kingdom Hearts: The Light Guardians" and Sora will see the Soul Eater cast again along with other characters.**


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